Advisory Resource Group Has $2.71 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Advisory Resource Group reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,211 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Sonen Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sonen Capital LLC now owns 10,132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,199,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.3% in the third quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 937 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Noble Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,331 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $421.43 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $409.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.65. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $272.05 and a 52-week high of $430.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total transaction of $1,950,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,770,926.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Macquarie increased their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $466.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $423.34.

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.