Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 202,639 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 789 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $100,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant's stock worth $18,521,349,000 after purchasing an additional 6,101,005 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $617.44.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $523.61 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.95.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

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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