Independence Bank of Kentucky Increases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,947 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.1% of Independence Bank of Kentucky's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Independence Bank of Kentucky's holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant's stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,688,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Oak Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% during the second quarter. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,157,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $618.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $513.43 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $512.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $473.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

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