J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,548 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.8% of J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in 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 buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $505.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $449.32. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.