Impax Asset Management Group plc Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Impax Asset Management Group plc has decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 22.1%, making it the company's second largest holding at approximately $691.7 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Microsoft, with GAMMA Investing LLC showing a remarkable increase of 40,290.4% during the first quarter.
• Analysts are optimistic about Microsoft, with multiple upgrades in target prices, including Barclays raising theirs from $550.00 to $625.00 and Piper Sandler from $600.00 to $650.00.

Impax Asset Management Group plc decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 22.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,846,615 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 523,815 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $691,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $16,075,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $2.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $507.23. The stock had a trading volume of 24,300,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,487,876. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $444.11. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.