Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. Grows Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,661 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.5% of Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $32,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $614.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $517.95 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $512.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $464.45. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. 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 company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.