Clarus Wealth Advisors Sells 72 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Clarus Wealth Advisors lowered its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,326 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Clarus Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $87,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. New Street Research began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $452.16 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $421.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $408.52. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $309.45 and a one year high of $453.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a return on equity of 37.54% and a net margin of 36.43%. The company had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.45 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total value of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,674,690.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.