First Interstate Bank lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 28.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,045 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,918 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of First Interstate Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 21.9% during the first quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 4,268 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement & Preservation of GA LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,574,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 154,952 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 78.2% in the first quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $684,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 18,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,655,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.29% of the company’s stock.
Microsoft Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $261.47 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $277.26. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $241.51 and a twelve month high of $349.67.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a return on equity of 43.31% and a net margin of 36.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.73%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $370.00 target price on the stock. Itaú Unibanco started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $287.00 price objective on the stock. Cowen lowered their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $352.00 to $312.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $334.31.
Microsoft 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.
Further Reading
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