Narus Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Narus Financial Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,551 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 468 shares during the quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $465.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $506.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.06. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $507.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $446.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.