Financial Perspectives Inc Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,659 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.1% of Financial Perspectives Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Financial Perspectives Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and set a $500.00 price target (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $632.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $493.79 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $514.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $498.33. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

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.