Townsquare Capital LLC Buys 12,649 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 489,965 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 12,649 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.0% of Townsquare Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $183,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fosun International Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st 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. Gagnon Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One 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, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded up $3.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $498.20. 16,724,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,521,180. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $509.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $451.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business'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 value of $2,557,502.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business'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 approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.