Iowa State Bank Trims Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Iowa State Bank decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 40,540 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,968 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Iowa State Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Walker Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Walker Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,347 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,592,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 180.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,414 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,330,000 after buying an additional 3,486 shares during the period. Nvest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 10,777 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,637,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 11,226 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,831,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,568 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,796,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total transaction of $16,103,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 544,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,349,953.73. The trade was a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,431 shares of company stock valued at $85,796,688 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $422.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $362.90 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $421.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.