Kennebec Savings Bank Buys New Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,633 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,866,000. Microsoft accounts for 5.8% of Kennebec Savings Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $511.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.5 %

MSFT traded up $10.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $426.03. The company had a trading volume of 8,688,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,715,867. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $429.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $426.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $384.81 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The business's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.39%.

About Microsoft

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.