Cumberland Partners Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 180,367 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.3% of Cumberland Partners Ltd's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Cumberland Partners Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 165,024,812 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,790,682,000 after buying an additional 3,264,648 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 54,590,791 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,490,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,030 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,229,125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,322,513,000 after acquiring an additional 652,493 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 38,420,657 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $16,104,959,000 after acquiring an additional 406,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 27,904,450 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,007,285,000 after purchasing an additional 636,713 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $470.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $470.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $493.13.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $12.91 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $387.30. The company had a trading volume of 22,177,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,289,472. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $385.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $411.70. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) 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 business earned $2.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.