Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 84.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 496,195 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 227,290 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.9% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $186,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fosun International Ltd grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a 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 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 price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $3.20 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $498.20. 16,724,087 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,521,180. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. 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 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $509.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft 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 value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

About Microsoft

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.