CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. Purchases 163 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,099 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.1% of CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fosun International Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 3,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,350 shares of company stock valued at $21,493,447. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $520.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $502.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $441.01. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Bank of America increased their price target on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.86.

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.