CCM Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 1,286 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,635 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.2% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Nicholas Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 39,743 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.2% in the second quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 37,802 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,896,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,577 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,750,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 25,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $417.00, for a total value of $10,425,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 117,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,911,598. This trade represents a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $14,333,540 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $409.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $428.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.85. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $385.58 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.36% and a net margin of 35.43%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.07 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.73%.

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.