Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Grows Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 306,532 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,574 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.3% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $115,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSFT opened at $505.12 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $509.48 and its 200-day moving average is $448.93. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

About Microsoft

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.