Forge First Asset Management Inc. Buys New Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Forge First Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft, purchasing 17,340 shares valued at approximately $6.5 million, which represents about 2.8% of their holdings.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares at an average price of $504.78, resulting in a significant decrease of 15.87% in his position.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.65, exceeding estimates, and anticipates an EPS of 13.08 for the current fiscal year.

Forge First Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,340 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $6,500,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.8% of Forge First Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fosun International Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $495.00 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $509.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.60.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

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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