Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Capital Investment Counsel Inc

Capital Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,068 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.9% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Capital Investment Counsel Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $1.0430 on Thursday, hitting $506.7630. 2,421,105 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,199,625. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $504.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $442.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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