Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Lessened by US Asset Management LLC

US Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,700 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 7.2% of US Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. US Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $618.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $510.96 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $513.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $472.29. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

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.