Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Increased by Baring Financial LLC

Baring Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,335 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.5% of Baring Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Baring Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st 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. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st 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 lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Arete lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.35 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.93, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $512.83 and a 200 day moving average of $466.63.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. 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%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade 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.

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.