Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Decreased by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 272,979 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,806 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.3% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $102,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. TD Securities increased their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $541.79.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $1.65 on Friday, hitting $510.05. 21,075,124 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,610,163. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $476.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.88. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $515.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This trade represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 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.