Aspen Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Aspen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,713 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $2,895,000. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of Aspen Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 107.2% during the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 52,284 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $19,804,000 after buying an additional 27,052 shares during the period. Counterweight Ventures LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.2% during the first quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC now owns 12,734 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,780,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Dahring Cusmano LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the first quarter. Dahring Cusmano LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 66.4% in the 1st quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,085 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 94.5% during the 1st quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC now owns 21,676 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,137,000 after buying an additional 10,532 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Microsoft stock traded down $1.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $505.12. The stock had a trading volume of 18,082,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,029,184. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $509.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.