Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Purchased by First National Bank Sioux Falls

First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,540 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.4% of First National Bank Sioux Falls' holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. First National Bank Sioux Falls' holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant's stock worth $113,399,000 after purchasing an additional 18,544 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant's stock worth $32,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $7.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $408.25. 27,440,364 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,515,041. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $425.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.79. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total value of $1,118,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.