Howard Capital Management Group LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,968 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,248 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.6% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $95,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock worth $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% in the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,930,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.47.
View Our Latest Report on MSFT
Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.96 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $513.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $471.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% 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
(
Free Report)
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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