Novus Advisors LLC Sells 239 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Novus Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,041 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.4% of Novus Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Novus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Newton One Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $495.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $509.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.60. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.