Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Paragon Advisors LLC

Paragon Advisors LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,667 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.9% of Paragon Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Paragon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,906,221.80. The trade was a 14.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.14.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $501.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $506.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $469.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.41.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.66%.

Microsoft Company 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.