Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Lessened by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,779,339 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 265,790 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 7.0% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,382,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 126,775 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,059,000 after acquiring an additional 2,067 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 29.3% during the second quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 17,154 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,532,000 after acquiring an additional 3,884 shares during the last quarter. Academy Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the second quarter. Academy Capital Management now owns 145,216 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $72,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,644,760 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,802,581,000 after purchasing an additional 39,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 664,212 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $330,199,000 after purchasing an additional 41,495 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4%

MSFT opened at $492.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $499.90. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Rothschild Redb cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. 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.