Westchester Capital Management Inc. Acquires 528 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Westchester Capital Management Inc. increased its Microsoft holdings by 0.7%, acquiring an additional 528 shares to total 72,473 shares, worth $27.2 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with UBS setting a new target at $650 while the average price target now stands at $612.54.
• Microsoft recently reported $76.44 billion in quarterly revenue, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share.

Westchester Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 72,473 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.8% of Westchester Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Westchester Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $27,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Privium Fund Management UK Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $6,993,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 22.7% in the first quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 725 shares of the software giant's stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Barings LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.4% in the first quarter. Barings LLC now owns 13,540 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,083,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.8% in the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 88,884 shares of the software giant's stock worth $33,366,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 784.0% in the first quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. now owns 3,527 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 3,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.00 on Friday. 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 $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $509.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $450.60. 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 (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 return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents 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.

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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