Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. significantly increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 170.4%, acquiring 1,441 shares and valuing their holdings at approximately $717,000.
• Multiple research firms have revised their price targets for Microsoft, with Jefferies Financial Group raising its estimate to $675.00 and Barclays setting it at $625.00, while Microsoft holds an average target price of $614.45.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91 per share, indicating strong financial health and returning value to shareholders.

Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 170.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,441 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the quarter. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Fosun International Ltd grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $614.45.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $511.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $512.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $462.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade 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 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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