Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Sequent Asset Management LLC

Sequent Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,865 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 119 shares during the period. Sequent Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fosun International Ltd grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 533 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 540 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $509.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $504.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $442.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.37, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.