Aspire Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,246 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 438 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.4% of Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 24,210 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,042,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 86,477 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $32,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,617 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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 business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $582.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. 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 research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $523.98 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $513.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $469.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Microsoft 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.