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

Clarion Wealth Managment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,858 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,919,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.1% of Clarion Wealth Managment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Tull Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,188,000. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $16,886,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the second 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Melius Research boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given 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 payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.