Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $28.70 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,693 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,780 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.1% of Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 155.7% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Arete Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MSFT opened at $480.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $507.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $500.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Microsoft 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.