Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by McCarthy & Cox

McCarthy & Cox raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,079 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. McCarthy & Cox’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 69,306 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $34,896,000 after purchasing an additional 3,853 shares during the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 28,397 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,407,878 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,695,113,000 after purchasing an additional 218,070 shares during the last quarter. Hartmann Taylor Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hartmann Taylor Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,110 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $523.98 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $513.38 and its 200-day moving average is $469.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.41, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. KeyCorp raised shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.47.

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.