Waverly Advisors LLC Has $207.48 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 560,491 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,581 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.5% of Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $207,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $407.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $407.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% 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, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group set a $525.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.16.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).