Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is First Financial Group Corp’s 2nd Largest Position

First Financial Group Corp lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,921 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 315 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 7.2% of First Financial Group Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. First Financial Group Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first 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 period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $533.50 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $488.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $434.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 33.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.