Exane Asset Management Purchases New Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Exane Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,654 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,941,000. Microsoft comprises 3.4% of Exane Asset Management's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.8% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 54,150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,327,000 after buying an additional 2,971 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.4% in the first quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 87,077 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,688,000 after buying an additional 13,534 shares during the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 16,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,286,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. May Hill Capital LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. May Hill Capital LLC now owns 9,761 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,664,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Capital LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Capital LLC now owns 16,341 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,134,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $507.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $506.08 and a 200-day moving average of $444.52. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company 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%.Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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