Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 289,951 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,505 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.0% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $108,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related 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 value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $509.90 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $510.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.82.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

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.