NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• NorthCrest Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 1.6%, acquiring a total of 279,710 shares worth approximately $139.5 million, making it the firm's third-largest holding.
• Institutional ownership of Microsoft stock is at 71.13%, reflecting broad support among institutional investors, with several firms significantly increasing their positions in recent quarters.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91, representing a 0.7% yield, with the new dividend set to be paid on December 11th to shareholders of record as of November 20th.

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 279,710 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 4,327 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.7% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $139,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 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 Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $614.45.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $511.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $512.03 and a 200 day moving average of $462.06. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Microsoft Company 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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