Access Financial Services Inc. Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Access Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 21 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of Access Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research upped their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $618.97.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.66 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $511.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $478.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 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 Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.