Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Archer Investment Corp

Key Points

• Archer Investment Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.3%, now owning a total of 13,704 shares valued at approximately $5.14 million, making Microsoft the firm's 12th largest holding.
• Several institutional investors have also made recent changes to their Microsoft positions, leading to institutional ownership of 71.13% of the company.
• Microsoft has received upgrades in price targets from various analysts, with the consensus target now at $612.54 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Archer Investment Corp boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,704 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.3% of Archer Investment Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Archer Investment Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second 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 shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third 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 shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth 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 acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,375,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $2.95 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $506.69. 20,949,937 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,296,634. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.21 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 fifty day simple moving average of $508.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $447.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

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.