Cove Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 31.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,491 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 11,197 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 8.2% of Cove Private Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Cove Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% 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.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of 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, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $618.47.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Down 2.2%
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.96 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $513.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $471.72. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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