First United Bank & Trust Reduces Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

First United Bank & Trust reduced its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,800 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 485 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.4% of First United Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Monumental Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Newfound Research LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Newfound Research LLC now owns 296 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $104,000. Darrow Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $82,000. Finally, Morgan Dempsey Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 24,144 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.27, for a total value of $6,139,094.88. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 150,047 shares in the company, valued at $38,152,450.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Microsoft from $275.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on Microsoft from $296.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Microsoft from $315.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Microsoft from $282.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $315.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.88.

Microsoft Trading Up 3.6 %

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $240.22 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.89. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $213.43 and a 12 month high of $315.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 25th. The software giant reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $50.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 42.10% and a net margin of 34.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.27 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.31%.

About Microsoft

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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.