Community Bank N.A. Has $22.47 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Community Bank N.A. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,871 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,734 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.0% of Community Bank N.A.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Community Bank N.A.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,096,913,000 after acquiring an additional 16,788,816 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $555.86.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $512.50. The company had a trading volume of 14,290,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,824,139. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $518.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $484.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $432.22.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total transaction of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 476,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Profile

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.