First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,082 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of First PREMIER Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. First PREMIER Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 35,465.9% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,611,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $66,852,000 after buying an additional 20,553,188 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 621,598,157 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $191,644,927,000 after buying an additional 5,648,095 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 30,893,155 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,524,669,000 after buying an additional 3,757,500 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 23,092,331 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,119,597,000 after buying an additional 2,696,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 21,811.0% in the first quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,047,582 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038,237 shares during the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Microsoft from $300.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Microsoft from $310.00 to $296.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Microsoft from $340.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Microsoft from $315.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Microsoft from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.05.
Microsoft Stock Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $235.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $219.13 and a 1 year high of $349.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $261.60. The company has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.97.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 25th. The software giant reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $50.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 42.77% and a net margin of 34.37%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 17th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 16th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 26.72%.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.25, for a total value of $1,331,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 109,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,244,101.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Company Profile
Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.
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