NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC Raises Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.8% of NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fosun International Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $504.24 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $505.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $443.45. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.06. 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 announced 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Barclays upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.