Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Iowa State Bank's 4th Largest Position

Iowa State Bank lowered its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,540 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,968 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.6% of Iowa State Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Iowa State Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant's stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total transaction of $32,017,386.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 8.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. DA Davidson cut 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.03.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $422.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $426.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $362.90 and a 1 year high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.

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.