Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Acquired by Paragon Capital Management Ltd

Paragon Capital Management Ltd grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 70,766 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,927 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.5% of Paragon Capital Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Paragon Capital Management Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $581.00 target price (up previously from $512.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.04.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $505.62. 15,142,434 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,611,426. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.07, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $473.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.73. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $508.30.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.66%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total transaction of $2,599,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 471,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $204,038,664.12. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock worth $60,224,683. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.