Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $1.06 Billion Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,123,535 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,584 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 6.1% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,056,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $513.57 on Wednesday. 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 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $512.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $473.51.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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. 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 an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price 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. Finally, Melius Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% 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.