Cascade Investment Group Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Posted by on Oct 14th, 2023

Cascade Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 11.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,712 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 796 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.4% of Cascade Investment Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cascade Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Armor Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 26,540 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,038,000 after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 85,184 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. Commons Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commons Capital LLC now owns 11,073 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,771,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Aspiriant LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 48,276 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,440,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $327.73 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $324.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $321.26. Microsoft Co. has a 1 year low of $213.43 and a 1 year high of $366.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 34.15% and a return on equity of 38.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Redburn Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $340.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $345.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.34.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total transaction of $16,860,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,301,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 38,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.43, for a total transaction of $12,557,192.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 800,668 shares in the company, valued at $262,963,391.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,049 shares of company stock valued at $38,195,619 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

(Free Report)

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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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

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