Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors

Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,327 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.6% of Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, 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 valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $614.45.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.7%

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. 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.