Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Federated Hermes Inc.'s Largest Position

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. increased its Microsoft shares by 13.7% in Q1, now holding 2,438,357 shares valued at approximately $915.34 million.
• Wall Street analysts have a generally positive outlook on Microsoft, with a consensus average price target of $612.54 and multiple buy ratings from various firms.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, contributing to a dividend yield of 0.7% with a payout ratio of 24.34%.

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,438,357 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 293,101 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $915,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,035,987,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.6%

MSFT traded down $12.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $495.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,963,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,697,988. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $509.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $450.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company 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%.Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.