Goldstone Financial Group LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 7.9%, now owning 9,916 shares worth approximately $4.95 million as of the end of Q2.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with UBS setting a target at $650.00, indicating strong optimism about the stock's future performance.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91, up from the previous $0.83, reflecting a positive shift in its financial returns.

Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,916 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $514.45. The company had a trading volume of 19,977,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,228,887. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. 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's 50-day moving average is $511.71 and its 200 day moving average is $458.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders 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 is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased 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. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.