Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Hyperion Asset Management Ltd

Key Points

• Hyperion Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in Microsoft by 20.6% during the second quarter, owning 719,899 shares valued at approximately $358 million, making it the firm's second largest holding.
• Multiple brokerages have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with Citigroup increasing its target to $613.00 and Wells Fargo boosting it to $650.00, reflecting strong analyst sentiment.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91, which will be paid on December 11th, signaling continued financial stability and commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Hyperion Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 20.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 719,899 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 123,082 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 11.2% of Hyperion Asset Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $358,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during 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 period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business's 50-day moving average is $512.83 and its 200-day moving average is $467.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.