China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164,088 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 17,383 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.7% of China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $61,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $16,075,000. Finally, Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,910 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $507.23 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $506.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $444.32. 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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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