WJ Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 1,879 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• WJ Financial Advisors increased its Microsoft holdings by 72.3% in the first quarter, adding 1,879 shares for a total of 4,477 shares valued at approximately $1.66 million.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while insiders have sold 23,762 shares worth $10.5 million over the past 90 days.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 42 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $554.73; Microsoft also recently reported earnings and revenue above expectations.

WJ Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 72.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,477 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,879 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.3% of WJ Financial Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. WJ Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock worth $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank upgraded Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Arete Research lifted their target price on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $646.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $554.73.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its first in-house cybersecurity AI model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, along with Project Perception, an agentic platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered attacks. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s enterprise security position and create additional demand for Azure and security services. Microsoft launches AI cybersecurity model and defense platform
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained bullish ahead of earnings. Citizens JMP reaffirmed a Market Outperform rating with a $550 target, while Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and a $540 target—well above Microsoft’s recent trading range. Microsoft stock moves higher
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanding partnerships and integrations across Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot support the argument that its broad enterprise ecosystem can monetize AI spending over time. Morgan Stanley estimates major technology companies could achieve 25%–50% returns on AI investments. AI capital expenditure plans

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $393.35 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $397.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $406.36.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

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