NS Partners Ltd Has $199.47 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

NS Partners Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 531,365 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,837 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 8.8% of NS Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $199,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fosun International Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $495.00 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $509.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft’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 expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.