WCM Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,988,513 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,268 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.2% of WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $986,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $503.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $513.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $495.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $633.59.

Microsoft 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.