Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s 3rd Largest Position

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 61.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 188,065 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 71,661 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.2% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $1.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $505.12. The stock had a trading volume of 18,082,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,029,184. The stock's 50 day moving average is $509.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $448.54. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. 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 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 return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.