Arlington Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Arlington Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,825 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 97 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.2% of Arlington Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Arlington Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Melius Research lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.47.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $524.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $513.61 and a 200 day moving average of $469.46.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.