Vest Financial LLC Has $59.02 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 39.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,234 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 44,283 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $59,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 59.1% during the first quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 15,921 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,977,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917 shares during the period. Breakwater Capital Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 22,234 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,346,000 after buying an additional 3,536 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 27,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,274,000 after buying an additional 3,908 shares during the period. Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 31,931 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $11,986,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,439,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 26th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $524.71.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the company'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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $7.16 on Friday, reaching $498.25. The stock had a trading volume of 13,984,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,692,275. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $500.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day moving average is $459.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $423.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend 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.