APCM Wealth Management for Individuals grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,798 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 808 shares during the quarter. APCM Wealth Management for Individuals' holdings in Microsoft were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PDS Planning Inc grew its stake in Microsoft by 14.8% during the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 25,876 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,646,000 after buying an additional 3,329 shares during the period. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 160.2% during the second quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,521 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,500,000 after buying an additional 10,787 shares during the period. Cordasco Financial Network grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% during the second quarter. Cordasco Financial Network now owns 5,364 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,378,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% in the second quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 2,792 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $115,983,000. 69.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Itaú Unibanco initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 26th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $287.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $300.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $331.77.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9 %

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The software giant reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.28 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $51.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.31 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.69% and a return on equity of 43.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 16th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Christopher C. Capossela sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.25, for a total transaction of $1,331,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 109,837 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,244,101.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft Viva, and Skype for Business; Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions.

Further Reading

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