Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Decreased by Ameriflex Group Inc.

Ameriflex Group Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,924 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,292 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.1% of Ameriflex Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Ameriflex Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 14.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after purchasing an additional 6,101,005 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.44.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $523.61 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $511.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $480.95.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.

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