Paladin Wealth LLC Buys 685 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Paladin Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,891 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.7% of Paladin Wealth LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Paladin Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,967 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after buying an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This trade represents a 23.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.01, for a total value of $460,010.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,058 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,647,150.58. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $521.14.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $495.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $449.47 and a 200-day moving average of $421.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, 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 $499.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.

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