Novem Group Increases Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Novem Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,985 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.0% of Novem Group’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Novem Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Melius Research upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $618.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $510.96 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $513.12 and a 200 day moving average of $471.16. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.