Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Emerald Advisors LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Emerald Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,123 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.8% of Emerald Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Emerald Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $618.97.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Microsoft stock opened at $513.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $475.63. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 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 analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 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. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% 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, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.