Oarsman Capital Inc. Acquires 539 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,828 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.0% of Oarsman Capital Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Oarsman Capital Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 144.4% during the 4th quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $120,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,339,590. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Microsoft stock traded down $3.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $474.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,804,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,539,207. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $480.42. The stock's fifty day moving average is $428.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (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 last year, the firm earned $2.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st 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 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Microsoft from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.68.

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.