Cardinal Capital Management Has $21.92 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cardinal Capital Management grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 52,093 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 942 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.6% of Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Cardinal Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 188 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 160.7% during the fourth quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 232 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $460.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $427.29 and its 200-day moving average is $411.76. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $309.45 and a fifty-two week high of $461.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.45 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Microsoft news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.68, for a total transaction of $10,642,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares in the company, valued at $44,674,690.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total transaction of $101,389.32. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 47,011 shares in the company, valued at $19,534,480.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,566 shares of company stock worth $10,877,535. Corporate 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.