Cardinal Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cardinal Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 902 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 121 shares during the quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,908,939 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $250,032,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,701,937 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 215,874,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $68,162,263,000 after purchasing an additional 5,762,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,920,047,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,987,007 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,152,647,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,625,201,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.53, for a total value of $101,389.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 47,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,534,480.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,674,690.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,566 shares of company stock valued at $10,877,535. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.12.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $449.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.89. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $309.45 and a 12-month high of $450.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $419.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $407.17.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The software giant reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $61.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.86 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.43% and a return on equity of 37.54%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given 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 0.67%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.97%.

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.