Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Welch Group LLC's 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• Welch Group increased its Microsoft stake by 2.6% during the second quarter to 219,788 shares worth approximately $82 million, making Microsoft its ninth-largest holding. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $567.07. Microsoft also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98, while shares opened at $501.61 and the company carried a $3.72 trillion market capitalization. Meanwhile, insiders—including CEOs Satya Nadella and Judson Althoff—have sold shares, with insiders owning just 0.03% of the stock.

Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,788 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 5,665 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.8% of Welch Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $81,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Partners in Financial Planning increased its position in Microsoft by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Partners in Financial Planning now owns 2,593 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. FWG Holdings LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,368 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 645 shares of the software giant's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Sequent Planning LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $567.07.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $501.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $469.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $423.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher Azure prices could support growth and margins. BNP Paribas said Microsoft may gain another growth lever as higher Azure prices are introduced to renewing customers, assigning a $549 price target. Microsoft’s Azure Has Another Growth Lever Waiting in the Wings, Analyst Says
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlooks on AI demand. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its Microsoft price target from $522 to $608 and maintained an overweight rating, citing opportunities in AI and cybersecurity. Erste Group also raised its earnings estimates. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Microsoft Price Target to $608
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains substantial. Microsoft and Anthropic reportedly represent $87.7 billion of the $103 billion contract backlog at AI infrastructure provider Nscale, highlighting the scale of enterprise AI spending and potential Azure demand. Microsoft and Anthropic dominate Nscale’s contract backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-return and valuation support added to the bullish case. Bill Ackman described Microsoft as a core holding after building a roughly $2.4 billion position, while Microsoft’s dividend increase and strong software franchise were cited as additional attractions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is adding a fourth cloud region in Hyderabad, improving geographic resilience, although the company provided no site-level capacity or investment details. Satya Nadella’s expected attendance at a Trump-Xi state dinner could provide diplomatic visibility but has limited direct financial impact.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright and AI-regulation concerns remain overhangs. Publisher testimony in ongoing copyright disputes has intensified questions about whether AI products substitute for original content. Microsoft executives have also warned that divergent AI rules could affect industry economics. Microsoft Slips as AI Testimony Sharpens Copyright Risk
• Negative Sentiment: New gaming-advertising initiatives generated investor skepticism. A patent covering contextual in-game advertisements raised concerns about user experience and monetization strategy. Microsoft Stock Slips on Xbox Patent for Ads in Video Games
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are weighing elevated AI capital spending, cloud-security concerns following the Hugging Face incident and the possibility that expectations are already priced in after Microsoft’s powerful summer advance. Redburn’s lower $440 target underscores the disagreement over valuation.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.