Bank of New Hampshire Sells 537 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Bank of New Hampshire cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,668 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 537 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 3.4% of Bank of New Hampshire's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Bank of New Hampshire's holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

MSFT stock traded down $2.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $501.48. The company had a trading volume of 16,466,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,678,724. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $469.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $425.41. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $506.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.