Financial Management Network Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Financial Management Network Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,507 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.5% of Financial Management Network Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Financial Management Network Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

MSFT opened at $507.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $512.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $461.15. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

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.