Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Raised by Colonial Trust Advisors

Colonial Trust Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,662 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.8% of Colonial Trust Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $500.37 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $510.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $452.38. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. 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 company has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 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, beating 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.