Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc.

Key Points

• Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft shares by 104.7% during the first quarter, owning a total of 3,896 shares valued at approximately $1.46 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft shares, with Loop Capital targeting $600, KeyCorp at $630, and Jefferies increasing their target to $675, indicating a strong positive outlook for the stock.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, which equates to an annualized dividend of $3.32, representing a 0.7% yield.

Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 104.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,896 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,993 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.8% of Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Quantum Financial Planning Services Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $3,035,987,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $495.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $509.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $450.60. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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 for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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