Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Boosted by South Dakota Investment Council

Key Points

• South Dakota Investment Council increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) by 0.5% during the first quarter, making up 4.0% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft reported a Q2 earnings beat with $3.65 EPS against estimates of $3.35, while revenue rose 18.1% year-over-year.
• Several analysts recently raised their price targets for Microsoft, with a consensus target of $612.54 and a majority rating of Buy.

South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 516,829 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,602 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.0% of South Dakota Investment Council's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. South Dakota Investment Council's holdings in Microsoft were worth $194,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade 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 this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $506.69 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $508.77 and its 200 day moving average is $447.85. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 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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