First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Boosts Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 278,557 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,487 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $138,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its position in Microsoft by 6.5% during the second quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 31,282 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $16,070,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 31,571 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,704,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 19,618 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,758,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 235,111 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $116,947,000 after acquiring an additional 16,987 shares during the period. Finally, EnRich Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EnRich Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $768,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $472.12 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $512.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $499.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Arete lifted their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were 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 $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.