Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC Has $2.72 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,465 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.5% of Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MSFT opened at $519.71 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $512.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.83. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.