Ledyard National Bank Has $52.90 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 125,493 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,205 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of Ledyard National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, DA Davidson raised Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $508.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $359.84 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $359.48 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $399.08 and a 200 day moving average of $417.40. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Microsoft Company 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.