Perennial Advisors LLC Has $36.60 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Perennial Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, now holding 73,575 shares valued at approximately $36.60 million, making it their largest investment.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Microsoft, with BMO Capital Markets and Scotiabank setting targets as high as $650.00, indicating strong positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Microsoft recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91, translating to an annual yield of 0.7%, effective for shareholders of record on November 20th.

Perennial Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 73,575 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,349 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.8% of Perennial Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Perennial Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,374,718,000 after buying an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

MSFT stock opened at $524.85 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. 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 company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $513.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $469.46.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm'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 trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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