PFW Advisors LLC Sells 1,136 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

PFW Advisors LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,704 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,136 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of PFW Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. PFW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $512.10 and a 200-day moving average of $460.28. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year 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 issued its 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share 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 $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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.