CCM Investment Advisers LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,877 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,242 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.3% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $430.00 to $494.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $538.04.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $505.62 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $508.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $474.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $427.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 35.79%. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.94 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.00, for a total transaction of $1,389,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,339,590. The trade was a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.