Vest Financial LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 248,399 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,565 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.5% of Vest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $120,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CFC Planning Co LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. CFC Planning Co LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 141,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $68,497,000 after buying an additional 2,743 shares during the last quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC now owns 3,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,712,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Boyer Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $923,000. Finally, KTF Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $9,215,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen upgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore decreased their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed a large new Microsoft stake, signaling strong confidence in MSFT’s long-term AI and cloud growth prospects. Billionaire Bill Ackman Just Made a Massive Bet on Microsoft. Here’s Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to argue Microsoft remains a strong long-term compounder, with some saying the stock looks cheaper than it has in years on a cash-flow basis. Is Microsoft Stock a Steal Right Now?
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts say Microsoft’s move away from an overly dependent OpenAI relationship could be beneficial over time because customers increasingly want access to multiple AI models rather than one exclusive partner. Why Microsoft’s Split With OpenAI May Be Great for the Stock in the Long Run

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.57 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $399.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $436.24.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).