Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 474,791 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,915 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $236,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the insider 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $474.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $502.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $502.77. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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.