Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Microsoft by 0.1%, now owning approximately 19.9 million shares, which constitutes 5.3% of its portfolio.
• A number of institutional investors have recently changed their positions in Microsoft, with Vanguard Group increasing its stake by 1.1% and Norges Bank acquiring a new position valued at about $44.3 billion.
• Microsoft's stock price has declined by 2.6%, with a current market cap of $3.68 trillion, alongside a recently announced quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share.

Swiss National Bank cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,920,970 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 27,300 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.3% of Swiss National Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.27% of Microsoft worth $7,478,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 85.7% in the first quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 53,829 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $20,207,000 after acquiring an additional 24,846 shares during the period. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 33.0% in the first quarter. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,029 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.9% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,578,663 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,223,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,634,357 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.9% in the first quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 21,142 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,937,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.3% in the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 27,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents 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 company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $12.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $495.00. 31,963,969 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,697,988. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company's fifty day moving average is $509.93 and its 200-day moving average is $450.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

About Microsoft

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.