West Bancorporation Inc. Has $3.12 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

West Bancorporation Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,319 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 63 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of West Bancorporation Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. West Bancorporation Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $522.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $501.60 and its 200-day moving average is $440.51. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447 in the last three months. Corporate 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.