Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s Largest Position

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 96,912 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,159 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.7% of Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $860,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $503.29 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company’s 50 day moving average is $513.96 and its 200 day moving average is $495.09. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 business earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $640.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’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 value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.