Alerus Financial NA Sells 5,156 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Alerus Financial NA lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 113,032 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,156 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.6% of Alerus Financial NA's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Alerus Financial NA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $513.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $2.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $470.38. 15,271,762 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,491,836. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $473.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $417.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $416.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.66%.

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.