Red Wave Investments LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Red Wave Investments LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,229 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 49 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.1% of Red Wave Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Red Wave Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sigma Planning Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 151,701 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $56,947,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 42,028 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,777,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,579 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,848,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 213,981 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $80,326,000 after acquiring an additional 9,625 shares during the period. Finally, Slow Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 17,605 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,609,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $506.69 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $508.77 and its 200-day moving average is $447.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid 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 payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

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.