Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by R.H. Dinel Investment Counsel Inc.

R.H. Dinel Investment Counsel Inc. cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,900 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,325 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 16.5% of R.H. Dinel Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. R.H. Dinel Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted 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. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 trade 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. 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. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $617.63.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

MSFT opened at $515.74 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $512.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $465.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect 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 paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.