Arvest Trust Co. N A Buys 22,158 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arvest Trust Co. N A lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 189.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,869 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,158 shares during the quarter. Arvest Trust Co. N A’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 169.2% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1,290.0% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in Microsoft by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 180 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer lowered Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $410.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $420.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $344.77 and a 1-year high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 78,353 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $408.63, for a total value of $32,017,386.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 864,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $353,189,942.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,629 shares of company stock valued at $77,916,485 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.