Clarion Wealth Managment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 3,858 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Clarion Wealth Managment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 3,858 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,919,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.1% of Clarion Wealth Managment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tull Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.4% in the second quarter. Tull Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,846 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $918,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,188,000. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,246 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,096,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,886,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 33,916 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,870,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Arete Research increased their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.53 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $504.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $502.65. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.