Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,953 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.8% of Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $618.47.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $510.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $513.12 and a 200 day moving average of $471.72. 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 capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Microsoft 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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