ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Acquires 1,718 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 82,558 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,718 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.8% of ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $34,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BCK Partners Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 6,986 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,997 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 35.7% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 95 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sequent Asset Management LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $404.00 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $424.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $423.08. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $385.58 and a 12-month high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.96.

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.