New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 32 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,452 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.3% of New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $506.69 on Tuesday. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $509.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $448.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.