West Bancorporation Inc. Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

West Bancorporation Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,174 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.6% of West Bancorporation Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. West Bancorporation Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock valued at $97,840,842. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $497.10 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $514.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $490.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.59.

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.