Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's 3rd Largest Position

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 87.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,579 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 44,172 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.5% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st 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. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $507.23 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $506.08 and a 200 day moving average of $444.32. 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 released 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. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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