Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Covea Finance

Key Points

• Covea Finance has increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.1%, now owning 388,937 shares valued at approximately $193.5 million, making it the fund's largest holding.
• Microsoft recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91, up from the previous $0.83, reflecting a slight increase in annualized dividend yield to 0.7%.
• Wall Street analysts maintain an optimistic outlook for Microsoft, with an average target price of $617.63 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Covea Finance raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 388,937 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 59,689 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 7.2% of Covea Finance's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Covea Finance's holdings in Microsoft were worth $193,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant's stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock worth $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.5% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 24,210 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,042,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 8.3% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 86,477 shares of the software giant's stock worth $32,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,617 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

MSFT opened at $517.35 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $512.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.74. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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 cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.

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