Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Montecito Bank & Trust's 3rd Largest Position

Montecito Bank & Trust reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,637 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 568 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Montecito Bank & Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Montecito Bank & Trust's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $5.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $510.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,074,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,868,408. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $514.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $482.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $430.84.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Microsoft from $494.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank raised their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $550.14.

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.