CRA Financial Services LLC Buys 484 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CRA Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,658 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.7% of CRA Financial Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. CRA Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $511.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $476.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $427.88. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $513.37.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $605.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $538.04.

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.