Stratos Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Stratos Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 18.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,077 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 13,534 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.7% of Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 34,643.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,837,278 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,096,913,000 after purchasing an additional 16,788,816 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $507.23 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock's 50-day moving average is $506.08 and its 200 day moving average is $444.52.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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 transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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