Busey Bank raised its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 472,040 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,287 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.6% of Busey Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Busey Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $203,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,587,119,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 47,196.6% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,834,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824,436 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Microsoft by 67.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,963,863 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,566,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 31,648.5% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 1,871,892 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $436.60. 54,224,020 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,730,301. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $427.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.42.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.
Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to buyback $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.46.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.41, for a total transaction of $1,118,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 49,352 shares in the company, valued at $22,080,578.32. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.
About Microsoft
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.