Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Boosted by Randolph Co Inc

Key Points

• Randolph Co Inc increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 2.3%, now holding 87,738 shares valued at approximately $43.6 million.
• Analysts continue to be optimistic about Microsoft, with several firms raising their price targets significantly, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $618.47.
• Microsoft has declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91, up from $0.83, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Randolph Co Inc lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,738 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.5% of Randolph Co Inc's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Randolph Co Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $618.47.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $510.96 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $513.12 and a 200 day moving average of $471.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business'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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This 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 insiders.

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.

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