Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Boosted by Balefire LLC

Key Points

• Balefire LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 84.1% during the 2nd quarter, making Microsoft its 9th largest stock position, valued at approximately $8.2 million.
• Microsoft reported earnings of $3.65 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $76.44 billion, marking an 18.1% year-over-year increase.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, raising the annualized yield to 0.7%.

Balefire LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 84.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,516 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,543 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.8% of Balefire LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Balefire LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $509.23 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $512.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $459.93. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. 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 issued its 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. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. 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%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm'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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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