Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $11.65 Billion Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 4.9%, now holding approximately $11.65 billion worth of Microsoft shares, which constitutes around 3.9% of its total holdings.
• Several analysts raised their price targets for Microsoft, with estimates reaching as high as $650, reflecting strong ratings such as "outperform" and "overweight" from firms like Raymond James and Piper Sandler.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, indicating a 0.7% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 24.34%.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,038,510 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,612,542 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.9% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.42% of Microsoft worth $11,651,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fosun International Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group raised 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 540 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Core Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,856 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $782,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value 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 trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $506.69 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average is $508.77 and its 200-day moving average is $447.33. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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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