Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is First Merchants Corp’s 7th Largest Position

First Merchants Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 105,498 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,791 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.0% of First Merchants Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $52,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eagle Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the second quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 12,122 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,030,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 29,672 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,759,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Quarry Hill Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.2% during the second quarter. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC now owns 2,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.7% during the second quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,221 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.81 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $513.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $487.54.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.