Vest Financial LLC Purchases 7,191 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,531 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,191 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Grey Street Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Grey Street Capital LLC now owns 13,798 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,188,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614 shares during the last quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69,866 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $26,272,000 after acquiring an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 10,675 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares during the last quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,665 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,395,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $342,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $420.72 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $275.37 and a 52 week high of $430.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $410.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Macquarie upped their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Microsoft from $435.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $423.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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.