Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Holdings Lowered by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 245,968 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,772 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Microsoft were worth $105,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $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 buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant's stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 117,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer cut Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $508.46.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $0.43 on Friday, hitting $436.60. The company had a trading volume of 54,224,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average of $428.32.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft Company 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.