Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Boosted by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 638,382 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.6% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund's holdings in Microsoft were worth $239,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,075,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,350 shares of company stock worth $14,162,567. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.10 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $503.49 and a 200 day moving average of $441.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.91, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.