Morningstar Investment Services LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Services LLC has reduced its stake in Microsoft by 47.8%, now holding 24,172 shares worth approximately $9,074,000, making it Microsoft's 9th largest holding.
• Other institutional investors have increased their positions in Microsoft, with Vanguard Group Inc. boosting its holdings by 1.5% and Norges Bank acquiring a new stake worth about $44.34 billion.
• Microsoft's quarterly earnings surpassed estimates, reporting $3.65 EPS and $76.44 billion in revenue, reflecting an 18.1% year-over-year increase.

Morningstar Investment Services LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 47.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,172 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 22,171 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business'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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $506.69 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company's fifty day moving average is $508.77 and its 200 day moving average is $447.85. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.

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