Arlington Partners LLC Purchases 1,287 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Arlington Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,676 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Arlington Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,264,648 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after buying an additional 2,125,030 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,322,513,000 after buying an additional 652,493 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after buying an additional 38,422,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9 %

MSFT stock traded up $7.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $388.45. The company had a trading volume of 23,826,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,250,515. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Microsoft Co. has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $468.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $391.89 and a 200 day moving average of $414.41. The company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 26.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $509.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (down previously from $500.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $505.41.

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.