Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,590 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.1% of Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 14.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after buying an additional 6,101,005 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

MSFT opened at $492.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $500.26. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped 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. DA Davidson set a $650.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently 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.