Liberty Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,356 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $650.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% 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 Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $492.12 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $509.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $499.90. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

About Microsoft

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.