CX Institutional Has $31.60 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CX Institutional raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 84,176 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,774 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.2% of CX Institutional's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. CX Institutional's holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group restated a "positive" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total value of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,339,590. This represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $1.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $503.32. The stock had a trading volume of 16,454,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,652,165. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $470.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $506.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.79% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $70.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 25.66%.

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.