Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc.

Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,465 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 82 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after buying an additional 5,762,902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after buying an additional 2,456,190 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Microsoft by 9.2% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,375,375 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,749,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,956 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,671,615 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,369,562,000 after purchasing an additional 88,583 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,620,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,353,488,000 after purchasing an additional 207,591 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.4 %

Microsoft stock opened at $399.04 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $414.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $387.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $292.73 and a 12 month high of $430.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The business had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total value of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 570,826 shares in the company, valued at $231,823,855.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at $64,538,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $455.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on Microsoft from $480.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.05.

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.