Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s 3rd Largest Position

Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 304,904 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 5,314 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.0% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $114,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total transaction of $7,330,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded up $1.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $503.32. 16,454,184 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,673,776. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $470.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.90, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $506.78. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.