Community Trust & Investment Co. Sells 13,371 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Community Trust & Investment Co. has reduced its stake in Microsoft by 5.6%, selling 13,371 shares and now holds 224,197 shares, which represent 6.4% of its investment portfolio.
• Multiple investment firms have increased their holdings or established new stakes in Microsoft, with institutional investors owning 71.13% of the company's stock.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, reflecting a shift from its previous dividend of $0.83, with an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Community Trust & Investment Co. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 224,197 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 13,371 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.4% of Community Trust & Investment Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $111,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $614.45.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of MSFT opened at $511.46 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $512.03 and a 200-day moving average of $462.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.