Spear Holdings RSC Ltd Trims Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Spear Holdings RSC Ltd lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 174,500 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 246,100 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 6.4% of Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $86,798,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Loop Capital upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Melius Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.58.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $541.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $513.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.65. 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, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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. Investors 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.