Strs Ohio Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,204,224 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,202,834,000. Microsoft makes up about 5.0% of Strs Ohio's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the executive vice president 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $515.36 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $510.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 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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