Unio Capital LLC Grows Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Unio Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 32.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 121,057 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,615 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 9.6% of Unio Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Unio Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.2% in the first quarter. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC now owns 346,829 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $128,386,000 after purchasing an additional 10,771 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 560,491 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $207,477,000 after buying an additional 85,581 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 12,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,668,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,004 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $15,919,000 after buying an additional 6,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Den Berg Management I Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 27,496 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,178,000 after acquiring an additional 10,177 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Dbs Bank reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $407.02 and its 200 day moving average is $407.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

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).