AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,398,320 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,570 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 8.9% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $695,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. DA Davidson set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research raised their target price on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $508.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $513.93 and its 200 day moving average is $494.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. 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 business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 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 dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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.