Cassia Capital Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cassia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,235 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.1% of Cassia Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Cassia Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,785,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Avondale Wealth Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 144.4% during the fourth quarter. Avondale Wealth Management now owns 110 shares of the software giant's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $508.86.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $13.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $359.84. The company had a trading volume of 49,130,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,761,546. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $399.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $417.40. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $355.27 and a 12-month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 26.73%.

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.