United Capital Management of KS Inc. Increases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

United Capital Management of KS Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,510 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during 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 worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $500.00 price target (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Mizuho cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $492.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $509.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $499.90. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.