Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Palacios Wealth Management LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Palacios Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,447 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.2% of Palacios Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Palacios Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Fosun International Ltd grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Birchbrook Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Gagnon Securities LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Melius Research raised their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $519.71 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $512.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $464.83.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a 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 presently 24.34%.

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.