Harrell Investment Partners LLC Acquires 4,405 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 12.6%, owning 39,293 shares valued at approximately $19.5 million, making it the fund's fourth-largest position.
• Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings for Q2, with $3.65 EPS and revenues of $76.44 billion, surpassing analysts' forecasts.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.91 per share, payable on December 11th, up from the previous $0.83.

Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,293 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 4,405 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.0% of Harrell Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Harrell Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $523.98 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $513.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $469.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm 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%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. 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 is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $618.47.

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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