Anchor Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 1.8% during Q1, now holding 105,030 shares valued at approximately $39.4 million, making it the firm's largest position.
• Microsoft has been actively sought by institutional investors, with new stakes acquired by hedge funds like Norges Bank and Nuveen LLC, contributing to 71.13% of the stock being held by these investors.
• Recent analyst reports have led to increased price targets for Microsoft shares, with projections reaching as high as $650, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 105,030 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,813 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.7% of Anchor Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Anchor Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $509.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $510.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.19. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Company 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.

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