Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 17,656 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 12.3% in Q1, making it the firm's largest holding with 161,269 shares valued at approximately $60.5 million.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 11th.
• Research analysts have given Microsoft a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $612.54, following several upgrades from major financial institutions.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,269 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 17,656 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $60,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $12.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $495.00. 31,963,969 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,259,959. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $450.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 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.