Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Riverbridge Partners LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Riverbridge Partners LLC currently has Microsoft Corporation as its 2nd largest position, representing 4.3% of its portfolio, after reducing its holding by 2.7% to 535,307 shares.
• Microsoft reported earnings of $3.65 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $76.44 billion reflecting an 18.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, with an annual yield of 0.7%, marking a positive change from the previous payout of $0.83.

Riverbridge Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 535,307 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 14,977 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.3% of Riverbridge Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Riverbridge Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $266,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first 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. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $523.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.41, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business's 50-day moving average is $513.38 and its 200 day moving average is $469.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Company 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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