Wesbanco Bank Inc. Has $114.46 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 304,904 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 5,314 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $114,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $527.31.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $6.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $503.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 18,633,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,667,813. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $506.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $465.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share 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 firm 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 business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.