Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 9,566 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208,507 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 9,566 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.3% of Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $103,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $520.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50 day moving average is $511.45 and its 200 day moving average is $479.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Arete lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.44.

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.

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