Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Has $19.83 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,867 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.3% of Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after buying an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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 stock was 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 directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.93 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $511.71 and a 200-day moving average of $458.74. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.