Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Lowered by Studio Investment Management LLC

Studio Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,752 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 484 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.2% of Studio Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 14.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,101,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $478.43 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $513.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $498.12. 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 one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders 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 0.8%. 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 currently 25.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value 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. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

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.