Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,111 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 218 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.0% of Cascade Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Monumental Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 534.5% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 89.0% during the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MayTech Global Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $83,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $490.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $423.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $420.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $411.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $374.88. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $275.37 and a 1-year high of $430.82. The company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.04, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.89.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The software giant reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.76 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.27% and a return on equity of 38.40%. The firm had revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 27.12%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $403.96, for a total value of $8,868,941.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,538,265.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 3,303 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.12, for a total transaction of $1,341,414.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 570,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,823,855.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,070,258 shares of company stock worth $30,690,456 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.