Clarus Wealth Advisors Has $1.40 Million Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Clarus Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,426 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Clarus Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. TL Private Wealth lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.4% in the third quarter. TL Private Wealth now owns 1,672 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Somerset Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 32,142 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,831,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. High Note Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 21,777 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,370,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patten Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 44,217 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $19,027,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.03.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.59, for a total value of $16,103,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 544,847 shares in the company, valued at $219,349,953.73. This trade represents a 6.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,552,000. This represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 209,431 shares of company stock worth $85,796,688. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MSFT opened at $418.79 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $421.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.35. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.55, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the software giant to reacquire up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.