Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Cascade Investment Group Inc.

Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,145 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.1% of Cascade Investment Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cascade Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 14.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after buying an additional 6,101,005 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $514.33 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $514.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $490.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock valued at $97,840,842. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.