Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Heritage Investors Management Corp's 2nd Largest Position

Heritage Investors Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 304,445 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.9% of Heritage Investors Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Heritage Investors Management Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $114,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 61.6% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 188,065 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,598,000 after acquiring an additional 71,661 shares during the period. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. grew its position in Microsoft by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. now owns 100,922 shares of the software giant's stock worth $37,885,000 after purchasing an additional 3,130 shares during the period. Integrated Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Capital Management LLC now owns 3,656 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,372,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 103,663 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $38,928,000 after buying an additional 11,712 shares during the period. Finally, Aspen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $2,895,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded down $1.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $505.12. 18,082,004 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,029,184. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve 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 has a 50-day moving average of $509.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The company's quarterly 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft 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.