St. Clair Advisors LLC Sells 850 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

St. Clair Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,093 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 850 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 7.0% of St. Clair Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. St. Clair Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newton One Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st 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. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $508.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $511.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $457.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week 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.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

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.