Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Lifted by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.3%, making it the firm's largest holding, worth approximately $634 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 from $0.83, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on December 11th.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a positive outlook on Microsoft, with several firms raising their price targets, predicting growth and a consensus price target of approximately $612.54 for the stock.

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,274,891 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 52,496 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 5.7% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $634,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% 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.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.6%

Microsoft stock opened at $507.03 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $512.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $461.15. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush lifted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

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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