Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Lessened by Oak Asset Management LLC

Oak Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,808 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.8% of Oak Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted 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. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $614.45.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $512.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $464.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, 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 company 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.