MCF Advisors LLC Has $11.52 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

MCF Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,693 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 714 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.8% of MCF Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. United Bank grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 21,268 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,014,253 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,653,843,000 after purchasing an additional 43,548 shares during the last quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society now owns 264,251 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $99,054,000 after purchasing an additional 13,255 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth $8,093,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 175.4% in the first quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 1,903 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $505.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.93. 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 Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.