Arrow Financial Corp reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,819 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,627 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.6% of Arrow Financial Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Arrow Financial Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $24,401,940,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $2,952,329,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 302,541,869 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $101,750,881,000 after buying an additional 8,108,943 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $11,872,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,476,729 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,868,814,000 after buying an additional 3,207,415 shares during the last quarter. 69.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $373.00 to $330.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 7th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $352.00 to $312.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Microsoft from $320.00 to $305.00 and set a "maintains" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $337.63.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.9 %

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.29 by ($0.06). Microsoft had a net margin of 37.63% and a return on equity of 44.85%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.17 EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 17th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Microsoft Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.

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