Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Martin Capital Partners LLC's 7th Largest Position

Key Points

• Martin Capital Partners LLC significantly increased its position in Microsoft Corporation by 198.5% in Q2, making it the firm's 7th largest holding at a valuation of approximately $7.97 million.
• Several institutional investors have also been increasing their stakes in Microsoft, with ownership among hedge funds and institutional investors reaching 71.13%.
• Microsoft recently declared a dividend increase to $0.91 per share, set to be paid on December 11th, reflecting the company's robust financial health with a 24.34% payout ratio.

Martin Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 198.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,022 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 10,654 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.1% of Martin Capital Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Martin Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 buying 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 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,374,718,000 after buying an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT traded down $3.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $514.45. 19,977,512 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,228,887. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $458.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft'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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.69%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company 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 issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

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.