ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 1,290 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,550 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK & TLK Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $389.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $420.80 and its 200 day moving average is $473.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (down from $650.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.87.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Product/partnership wins that support Azure and Copilot monetization—Microsoft announced integrations and partner expansions that help drive enterprise adoption of Copilot and Fabric, which support long-term revenue growth. What Microsoft (MSFT)’s Lumel-Fabric Integration Means For Shareholders
• Positive Sentiment: Accenture announced a collaboration to embed “agentic” security and resilience into managed detection and response using Microsoft technology—this strengthens enterprise security demand for Azure and security services. Accenture Collaborates with Microsoft to Bring Agentic Security and Business Resilience to the Front Lines of Cyber Defense
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is consolidating its Copilot/AI teams and hiring small AI startups (e.g., Cove team) to accelerate product development—moves aimed at simplifying offerings and catching up on model capabilities. These steps support product focus and future monetization. Microsoft Unifies AI Division To End Copilot Confusion, Boost Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Channel and partner activity continues (Expedience, Insentra, others joining Microsoft programs), which is constructive but incremental for top-line growth. Expedience Software Joins Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program to Deliver Copilot-Powered Proposal Automation in Microsoft Word
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor commentary is mixed: some outlets pitch a buy-the-dip case while others highlight heavy capex and infrastructure costs—this fuels volatility but not an immediate fundamentals shock. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Potential legal conflict with Amazon/OpenAI: reports say Microsoft is weighing legal action over a reported Amazon–OpenAI cloud deal that could undermine Microsoft’s long-held OpenAI exclusivity—this is a major strategic risk to Azure AI differentiation and revenue. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents and guidance: a recent medical‑device cyberattack tied to Microsoft endpoint tools prompted U.S. agencies to warn companies to harden those tools; separate reports flag SharePoint as an attack vector—these raise near‑term risk and potential remediation costs. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Management & product headwinds: leadership reassignments and criticism about product competitiveness (Suleyman reassigned, debate over model quality) add execution uncertainty while investors fret over rising infrastructure costs driving margin pressure. “World-Class Models”: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Drops as Suleyman Reassigned

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).