Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Wellington Management Group LLP's Largest Position

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Microsoft by 5.7%, now holding approximately 49.98 million shares, making it the firm's largest position.
• Multiple analysts upgraded Microsoft's stock rating recently, with Cantor Fitzgerald raising the price target from $581 to $639, indicating a positive market outlook.
• Microsoft reported a 36.15% net margin and an earnings per share of $3.65, surpassing consensus estimates and reflecting a year-over-year revenue growth of 18.1%.

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,984,045 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,008,079 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.6% of Wellington Management Group LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.67% of Microsoft worth $18,763,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of MSFT stock traded up $8.89 on Friday, reaching $509.90. 23,610,304 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,166,356. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $510.55 and a 200-day moving average of $453.82. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI upped 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. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

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.