Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Stokes Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 1.4%, owning nearly 40,000 shares valued at approximately $19.9 million, making it the firm's largest holding.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with estimates now between $550 and $650, reflecting strong confidence in the stock's performance.
• Microsoft declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, scheduled for payment on December 11th, up from the previous $0.83 dividend.

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,918 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.9% of Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fosun International Ltd increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Birchbrook Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $460.28. 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 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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's 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.

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