Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Increased by Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,310 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 430 shares during the quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $515.36 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $510.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $455.45. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 2.23 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

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.