Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,297 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 202 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.2% of Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Cathy Pareto & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $519.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $512.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $464.83. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. 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. Microsoft’s dividend 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.