Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,936 Shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,236 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,936 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.8% of Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 48,526.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,501,645 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,567,258,000 after purchasing an additional 38,422,466 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,511,544 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,767,000 after buying an additional 97,075 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,091,789 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,768,771,000 after buying an additional 1,563,533 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 20,957,770 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,018,128,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 18,388,106 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,912,402,000 after acquiring an additional 251,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6 %

Microsoft stock traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $444.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,539,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,490,811. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $431.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $425.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. Microsoft Co. has a 12 month low of $385.58 and a 12 month high of $468.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 12.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $548.00 to $540.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $497.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $512.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total value of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. The trade was a 6.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 57,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.