Arrien Investments Inc. Invests $273,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arrien Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 658 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 16,156 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,250,128 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,980,299,000 after purchasing an additional 217,509 shares during the period. 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 stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 131,743 shares of company stock worth $58,375,673. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. TD Securities raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $513.13.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

MSFT stock traded down $0.96 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $459.73. The company had a trading volume of 2,467,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,511,920. The business has a 50-day moving average of $405.09 and a 200-day moving average of $414.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $468.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

About Microsoft

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.