Arvest Investments Inc. Decreases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arvest Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,854 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,980,299,000 after buying an additional 217,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $513.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,743 shares of company stock valued at $58,375,673 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.18 on Tuesday. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $403.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $414.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.