ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 251.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,979 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,878 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.7% of ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 58,850 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,785,000 after buying an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 123,856 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,698 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,330,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 428,997 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $156,616,000 after acquiring an additional 11,848 shares during the period. Finally, SFE Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 57,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.70 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $398.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $407.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. New Street Research lowered their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $555.40.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Microsoft Profile

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).