Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,860 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,618 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.7% of Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $131,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $510.05. 21,075,124 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,610,163. The stock has a market capitalization 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $515.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $476.35 and a 200 day moving average of $427.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior 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, 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 paid 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 25.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $485.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $581.00 price target (up from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.79.

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.