Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock Position Lowered by Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,261 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,666 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after acquiring an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 112,158.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after acquiring an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,731,177 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,172,705,000 after acquiring an additional 3,268,917 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,331 shares of company stock valued at $20,450,828. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $350.00 to $415.00 in a report on Friday, July 21st. Atlantic Securities lifted their price target on Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Microsoft from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $373.68.

Read Our Latest Research Report on MSFT

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $321.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $336.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.20. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $213.43 and a 52-week high of $366.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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.