Crumly & Associates Inc. Buys 585 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Key Points

• Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 12.6%, now owning 5,224 shares valued at approximately $1.96 million.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded Microsoft, with UBS raising its target price to $650 and Bank of America boosting it to $640, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Insider trading activity included Judson Althoff selling 16,000 shares at an average price of $458.18, reducing his position by 14.03%.

Crumly & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,224 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $9.39 on Friday, hitting $524.11. 28,948,527 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,331,950. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $489.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $434.88. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $609.86.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total value of $1,389,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock worth $27,520,933. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.