Chase Investment Counsel Corp Has $12.23 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,235 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 321 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.6% of Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the first quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,745 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,100,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. VERITY Wealth Advisors now owns 9,141 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 818,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $344,259,000 after purchasing an additional 47,704 shares during the period. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,215 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,981,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 3,494 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $506.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $418.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.20, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $419.66 and its 200-day moving average is $424.49. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $324.39 and a 12 month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $64.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.38 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 35.96%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.02 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 28.74%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total transaction of $1,027,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,552,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 14,398 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $417.41, for a total transaction of $6,009,869.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 786,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $328,473,703.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,629 shares of company stock worth $77,916,485 in the last 90 days. Company 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.