Busey Bank Has $235.83 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Busey Bank increased its Microsoft holdings by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 487,636 shares valued at about $235.8 million. Microsoft is now Busey Bank’s second-largest holding and makes up roughly 6.2% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft’s latest quarterly results topped expectations, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year. The company also reported strong profitability, including a 39.34% net margin.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on the stock, with 39 analysts rating Microsoft a Buy and the consensus view at Moderate Buy. The average price target is $560.88, above the recent trading price around $405.

Busey Bank raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 487,636 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,129 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 6.2% of Busey Bank's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Busey Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $235,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group cut their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $405.21 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $397.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $442.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reaffirmed Microsoft as an outperform and kept a $575 price target, while Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to buy with a $485 target, underscoring Wall Street’s continued optimism about Microsoft’s long-term AI and cloud growth. Benzinga report
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top long-term or “battered” software stock, with some investors seeing the pullback as an opportunity to buy a dominant franchise at a more attractive valuation. 247WallSt article
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly looking at startup acquisitions to reduce dependence on OpenAI, which could be a strategic positive over time but also signals that the current partnership is not viewed as fully secure. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: LinkedIn plans to cut about 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring, which may support margins but also reflects caution across Microsoft’s broader business. Reuters/Invezz article
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing testimony in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is putting Microsoft’s role in OpenAI under a microscope, reviving concerns about governance, reliance on OpenAI, and possible legal or reputational overhang. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are worried that Microsoft’s AI capex is rising faster than the market can justify, with articles warning that the company must prove a timely return on its AI investments to sustain the stock’s premium. Motley Fool article

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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