Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 10,876 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 359,478 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,876 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.9% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $178,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $517.81 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $513.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $487.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Microsoft from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson set a $650.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.67.

About Microsoft

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.