Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,918,425 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 15,431 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.0% of Fifth Third Bancorp's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,451,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $617.63.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Performance
MSFT stock opened at $517.35 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $512.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.74. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading

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