Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $221.51 Million Stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 768,313 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 11,203 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.7% of Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $221,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 19.9% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 14,342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 20.8% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,138,469 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $351,001,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares in the last quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,712 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,919,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.2% in the first quarter. Powell Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,578 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.2% in the first quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Microsoft from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $411.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $350.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Microsoft from $336.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Microsoft from $350.00 to $415.00 in a research note on Friday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $373.68.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $328.41 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Microsoft Co. has a 12-month low of $213.43 and a 12-month high of $366.78. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $333.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $307.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The software giant reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.14. Microsoft had a return on equity of 38.70% and a net margin of 34.15%. The firm had revenue of $56.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Co. will post 10.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 874 shares in the company, valued at $292,588.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Teri List sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.77, for a total transaction of $418,462.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,588.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.20, for a total value of $16,860,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 588,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,301,924.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company 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.