Cloud Capital Management LLC Purchases 5,429 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cloud Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 57.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,908 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,429 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.4% of Cloud Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Cloud Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.3%

MSFT opened at $478.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $508.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $500.92. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. HSBC lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.33.

Microsoft 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.