Marion Wealth Management Acquires 148 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Marion Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,390 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.5% of Marion Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $530.00 target price (up from $482.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $521.14.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,995,413.95. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares in the company, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $497.45 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $498.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $446.90 and its 200-day moving average is $421.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

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.