Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Has $2.30 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,133 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 675 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.8% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,096,913,000 after buying an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares in the company, valued at $19,481,631. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $505.82 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $426.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $508.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.