Howe & Rusling Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,478 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 3,836 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.6% of Howe & Rusling Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Howe & Rusling Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $509.04 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $511.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

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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