USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 484 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the first 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 during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the first 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 during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research 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, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.97.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Stock Performance
Shares of MSFT opened at $516.79 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $478.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.
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, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $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. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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