New Covenant Trust Company N.A. Has $3.42 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

New Covenant Trust Company N.A. reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,831 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 212 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.7% of New Covenant Trust Company N.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. New Covenant Trust Company N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Values Added Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 38.2% during the second quarter. Values Added Financial LLC now owns 7,551 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares in the last quarter. Dopkins Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dopkins Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,195,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,495 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,300,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 13.9% during the second quarter. JMG Financial Group Ltd. now owns 5,730 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,561,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Finally, Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,275 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Microsoft from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.94.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $417.46 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $417.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.79. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $324.39 and a 52 week high of $468.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 38,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.55, for a total value of $15,600,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 496,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,784,292.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

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.