Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Davis Investment Partners LLC's 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• Davis Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 275.2% during Q2, acquiring an additional 7,967 shares, bringing its total to 10,862 shares valued at approximately $5.35 million.
• Company executives have sold significant amounts of stock, with EVP Takeshi Numoto selling 4,850 shares for over $2.5 million and CEO Satya Nadella selling 149,205 shares for nearly $75.3 million, representing decreases in their respective positions.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91, which will be distributed to investors on December 11th, 2023.

Davis Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 275.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,862 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 7,967 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.9% of Davis Investment Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Davis Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,074 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,990,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 129,159 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $64,245,000 after buying an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 6,403 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,526 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,241,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 8,730 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,342,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One investment 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $3.48 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $514.45. 19,977,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,503,336. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock's fifty day moving average is $511.71 and its 200 day moving average is $458.74. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Microsoft 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.