Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 4.0%, owning a total of 210,930 shares valued at approximately $104.9 million.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91, reflecting a positive change from its previous dividend of $0.83, with an annualized yield of 0.7%.
• The stock has received multiple analyst upgrades, with target prices raised to as high as $640.00 as firms such as Oppenheimer and KeyCorp rate the stock as "outperform" and "overweight."

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 210,930 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 8,120 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.9% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $104,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $513.58 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $511.82 and a 200-day moving average of $475.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one 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 $618.97.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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