Argent Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 511,188 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 10,007 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.1% of Argent Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $219,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in Microsoft by 169.2% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 241.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Microsoft
In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total transaction of $10,425,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares in the company, valued at $48,911,598. This represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Microsoft Stock Down 0.1 %
Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $436.60 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $427.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $366.50 and a 1 year high of $468.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.90.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The firm had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 purchase up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 27.39%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $508.46.
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.
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