Peoples Bank OH Sells 2,111 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Peoples Bank OH lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,445 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,111 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.8% of Peoples Bank OH's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Peoples Bank OH's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,799,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,204,664,000 after acquiring an additional 49,735 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after purchasing an additional 49,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $435.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $493.13.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $4.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $391.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,959,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,169,050. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $384.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $411.41. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.