Sterneck Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sterneck Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,735 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.2% of Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sterneck Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second 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 during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Melius Research upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $514.05 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $473.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The business’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, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders 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 represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.