Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Raised by Ninety One UK Ltd

Key Points

• Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 7.3%, making the tech giant its largest investment at $3.73 billion.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with the consensus target now at $618.97 and a majority rating it as a "buy."
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend and demonstrating strong returns for shareholders.

Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,498,375 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 511,401 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 8.8% of Ninety One UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned approximately 0.10% of Microsoft worth $3,729,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant's stock worth $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock worth $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares during the period. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,930,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Melius Research upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.97.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $513.58 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $477.00. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.

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