Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,633 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.0% of Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rebalance LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Rebalance LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 4,239 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,594,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkansas Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,719 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,202 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Doheny Asset Management CA increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 6,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total value of $6,009,869.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,552,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $520.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $429.17 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $309.45 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $420.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $424.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.04 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

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.