Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Acquires 49,039 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 57.6%, owning 134,117 shares valued at approximately $50.35 million, making it the firm's fifth largest holding.
• Several brokerages have recently raised their price targets for Microsoft, with reports indicating targets as high as $675.00, while the current consensus price target stands at $612.54.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83, representing a 0.7% yield, with the ex-dividend date set for August 21st.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 57.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 134,117 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 49,039 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.3% of Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $50,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Creekside Partners increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Creekside Partners now owns 6,383 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,396,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.1% during the first quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,395,000 after acquiring an additional 1,927 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the first quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 128,299 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $48,162,000 after purchasing an additional 4,791 shares in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.1% in the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 9,418 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,464,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 148,517 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $55,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $12.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $495.00. 31,963,969 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,697,988. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $509.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.85. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.