Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,921 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Harvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $1,464,000. KFG Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 33.3% during the second quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,990 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,477,000 after buying an additional 1,748 shares during the period. Friday Financial boosted its stake in Microsoft by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter. Friday Financial now owns 842 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 155,584 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $77,389,000 after buying an additional 31,193 shares during the period. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 444,957 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $221,333,000 after buying an additional 27,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $515.74 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $512.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $465.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. 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. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded 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, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report 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 given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.63.

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.