World Investment Advisors Has $70.64 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.6%, owning a total of 188,169 shares valued at approximately $70.64 million, which makes Microsoft the firm's 4th largest position.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Microsoft, with Vanguard Group acquiring an additional 10.4 million shares, bringing its total stake to approximately $288 billion.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings beat with $3.65 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, set to be paid on September 11th.

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 188,169 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 8,256 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.8% of World Investment Advisors' holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $505.72 on Thursday. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $504.93 and a 200-day moving average of $442.81. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related 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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512 over the last quarter. Company 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.

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