Alps Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,103 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,101 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.3% of Alps Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Alps Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $51,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $506.74 on Thursday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $507.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $446.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

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.

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