Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Darden Wealth Group Inc’s 2nd Largest Position

Darden Wealth Group Inc lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,729 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 264 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.3% of Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Darden Wealth Group Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Melius Research lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.33.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

Microsoft stock opened at $485.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $510.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $499.71.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.