Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s Largest Position

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,508 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,674 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 15.5% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brueske Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.6% during the second quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,605 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,265,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Sicart Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 58,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,036,000 after purchasing an additional 742 shares during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 43,993 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $21,883,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMB Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. FMB Wealth Management now owns 3,419 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $513.58 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $511.82 and its 200 day moving average is $476.28. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Arete boosted their price target on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $618.97.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.