Cushing Capital Partners LLC Makes New $1.17 Million Investment in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Cushing Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,778 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,171,000. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Cushing Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,689,356 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,890,530,000 after buying an additional 49,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,749 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,334,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total transaction of $5,985,968.43. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $436.05, for a total value of $32,703,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 476,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,995,413.95. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 94,243 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,738. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $454.27 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $395.33 and its 200-day moving average is $412.48. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $468.35. The company has a market cap of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.30.

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.