Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC Has $25.06 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,442 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,618 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.5% of Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $45,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Avondale Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.32, for a total value of $874,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 51,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,675,916.64. This represents a 3.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,070,340. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $397.12 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $420.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.73. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 26.73%.

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.