Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Position Trimmed by Arkansas Financial Group Inc.

Posted by MarketBeat News on May 22nd, 2023

Arkansas Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,223 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 106 shares during the period. Arkansas Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Sentinel Pension Advisors Inc. now owns 3,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Rovin Capital UT ADV increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 3,747 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Lokken Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Denver Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Denver Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Daniels&Tansey LLP increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Daniels&Tansey LLP now owns 1,488 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.15% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $318.34 on Monday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $213.43 and a 1-year high of $319.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $290.86 and a 200-day moving average of $261.67.

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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.23. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.98% and a net margin of 33.25%. The company had revenue of $52.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 9.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 18th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 29.47%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 4,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.88, for a total value of $1,186,410.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 788,625 shares in the company, valued at $196,272,990. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.87, for a total value of $1,584,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 89,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,305,363.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,848 shares of company stock worth $16,635,227. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Microsoft from $290.00 to $348.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. 888 reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.28.

Microsoft Company Profile

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Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of Office Commercial (Office 365 subscriptions, the Office 365 portion of Microsoft 365 Commercial subscriptions, and Office licensed on-premises), Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, Office Consumer, including Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other Office services, LinkedIn, including Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Sales Solutions, and Learning Solutions, Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, comprising a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, Customer Insights, Power Apps, and Power Automate, and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.