Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,779,339 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 265,790 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 7.0% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,382,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second 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 buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after purchasing an additional 6,101,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

MSFT opened at $492.12 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average of $499.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (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 business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.33.

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.