Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Boosted by Scharf Investments LLC

Key Points

• Scharf Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 6.7%, now holding 444,957 shares valued at approximately $221 million, making it the firm's second-largest position.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with Jefferies Financial Group increasing it to $675.00, while Bank of America set it at $640.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Microsoft is set to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share on December 11th, indicating an increase from the previous $0.83 dividend, with a current yield of 0.7%.

Scharf Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.7% 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 444,957 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 27,950 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.4% of Scharf Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Scharf Investments LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $221,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target 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. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Arete lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $617.63.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $515.74 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $512.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $465.70. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during 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%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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