Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,692,463 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,489 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.2% of Truist Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,097,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $75,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 241.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $362.90 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $422.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $425.44.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 17,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.85, for a total transaction of $7,157,129.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 150,161 shares in the company, valued at $61,843,807.85. The trade was a 10.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 197,829 shares of company stock worth $80,966,837. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

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.