Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 193,278 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,012 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.4% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Newton One Investments LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first 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 Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd 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 period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2%

MSFT stock opened at $528.57 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $468.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.47.

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.