Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,553 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target 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. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.97.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.66 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $478.38. The company has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.