Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 12th, 2023

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,261 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,666 shares during the quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 634,238,715 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,714,197,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 295,509,547 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,824,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,554 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 195,859,819 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $50,302,677,000 after purchasing an additional 556,020 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 112,158.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 150,187,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,017,948,000 after purchasing an additional 150,053,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,731,177 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $34,172,705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,268,917 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $321.01 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $336.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $300.20. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $213.43 and a twelve month high of $366.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total value of $418,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,331 shares of company stock worth $20,450,828 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. BNP Paribas cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Redburn Partners reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Macquarie upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Atlantic Securities boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $373.68.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.