Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Foster Group Inc.

Foster Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,581 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $515.74 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $465.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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

Microsoft 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.