Van Strum & Towne Inc. Has $21.48 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Van Strum & Towne Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 57,227 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,315 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 7.2% of Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $3,035,987,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $505.12 on Wednesday. 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $509.48 and a 200-day moving average of $448.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. 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 is 24.34%.

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.