Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. Sells 185 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,160 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Plancorp LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.0% during the second quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 38,086 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112 shares during the period. Motive Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.7% in the second quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors now owns 8,183 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Moneywise Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.1% in the second quarter. Moneywise Inc. now owns 3,219 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. LeConte Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 44.4% in the second quarter. LeConte Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,452 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,707,000 after acquiring an additional 2,290 shares during the period. Finally, Level Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $524.85 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $513.61 and a 200-day moving average of $469.46.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’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 research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.