Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 182,750 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,516 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.3% of Vest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $90,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $496.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $513.88 and a 200-day moving average of $493.26. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock worth $97,840,842. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.47.

Microsoft 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.