Arcus Capital Partners LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arcus Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,484 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,027 shares during the quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 20,521 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,717,000 after buying an additional 3,239 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $5,462,000. Derbend Asset Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Derbend Asset Management now owns 12,368 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,651,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Insight Advisors LLC PA now owns 17,792 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,690,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,989 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,132,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $292.73 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $414.44 and its 200 day moving average is $387.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.40% and a net margin of 36.27%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Macquarie raised their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $455.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $434.05.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total transaction of $8,868,941.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Microsoft news, major shareholder Corp Microsoft sold 1,000,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.95, for a total value of $1,950,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,677,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,770,926.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock valued at $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.