Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by AM Investment Strategies LLC

Key Points

• AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 97.8% in Q1, making it their 7th largest position valued at approximately $10.7 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with Scotiabank setting a new target of $650 and most analysts currently rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy."
• Microsoft has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.7% as part of its overall financial strategy.

AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 97.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,505 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 14,095 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.6% of AM Investment Strategies LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. AM Investment Strategies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% 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 Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $12.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $495.00. 31,963,969 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,259,959. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $450.01. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.