Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) is First Financial Bankshares Inc's 2nd Largest Position

First Financial Bankshares Inc increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 523,850 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 16,172 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of First Financial Bankshares Inc's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. First Financial Bankshares Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $220,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of 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. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,890,530,000 after acquiring an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 18,378 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,908,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $459.26. 1,957,818 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,508,213. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $407.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $414.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. 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.