Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Trimmed by Lingohr Asset Management GmbH

Key Points

• Lingohr Asset Management GmbH has significantly decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation by 89.8%, now holding only 4,680 shares after selling 41,349 shares during the second quarter.
• Microsoft has announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, up from the previous $0.83, to be paid on December 11th.
• The company reported $3.65 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.30, alongside a revenue of $76.44 billion, up 18.1% year-over-year.

Lingohr Asset Management GmbH reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 89.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,680 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 41,349 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.2% of Lingohr Asset Management GmbH's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fosun International Ltd raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

MSFT traded up $9.48 on Friday, hitting $517.93. 52,313,925 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,095,838. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $511.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.31.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.