Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Lessened by Jackson Wealth Management LLC

Jackson Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,267 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 641 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.1% of Jackson Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Jackson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $50,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $133,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,052 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $504.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $505.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $443.45. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512. Corporate 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.