Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Rathbones Group PLC's Largest Position

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC has made Microsoft Corporation its largest position, increasing its stake by 2.2% in the first quarter, now holding 3,488,022 shares valued at approximately $1.31 billion.
• Microsoft reported impressive quarterly earnings on July 30th, with EPS of $3.65 beating estimates and revenue of $76.44 billion, a year-over-year increase of 18.1%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with Stifel Nicolaus increasing it to $550 and Royal Bank of Canada setting a target of $640, reflecting strong confidence in the company's performance.

Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,488,022 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 75,637 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.3% of Rathbones Group PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,309,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $498.41 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $510.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $452.04. 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 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush raised 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.

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