Ames National Corp Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Ames National Corp purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,813 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $7,930,000. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of Ames National Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.68.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $2.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $477.40. The company had a trading volume of 37,241,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,515,262. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $483.46. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $437.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $420.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.