Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 153,069 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $76,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fosun International Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,375,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $510.15 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $460.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.