Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 23 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,998 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 23 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 0.6% of Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $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 acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during 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 business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.93 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $457.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.