MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. Buys 586 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,621 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of MidWestOne Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,293 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $11,015,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 290,385 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $67,630,000 after acquiring an additional 10,121 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.1% in the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 151,873 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,371,000 after acquiring an additional 52,643 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,327,000. Finally, Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.1% in the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 120,078 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,967,000 after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the period. 69.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Wedbush raised their target price on Microsoft from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Microsoft from $247.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Microsoft from $280.00 to $270.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Fundamental Research cut their price objective on Microsoft from $269.73 to $259.47 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,272,990. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $269,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 117,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,614,975.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,767 shares of company stock worth $1,728,111. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $260.79 on Wednesday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $213.43 and a fifty-two week high of $315.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $249.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The software giant reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.05. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.87% and a net margin of 33.05%. The business had revenue of $52.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $53.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 30.22%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.