Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.'s 2nd Largest Position

Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,481 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,429 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.7% of Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullinan Associates Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 196,184 shares of the software giant's stock worth $81,872,000 after buying an additional 5,124 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 25,917 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,904,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 53,689 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,102,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 46,082 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $19,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% in the third quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,306 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $508.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $0.43 on Friday, hitting $436.60. 54,224,020 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $427.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.42. The company has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.