Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,837 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 102 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.5% of Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $513.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $512.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $473.51. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a 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 (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.