Summit Financial Consulting LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Summit Financial Consulting LLC cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,158 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 82 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.0% of Summit Financial Consulting LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Summit Financial Consulting LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $514.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $511.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $459.59. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.