Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Reduced by Sterling Investment Counsel LLC

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 52.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,335 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,184 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.4% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Melius Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $617.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $520.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $511.45 and its 200-day moving average is $479.79.

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. 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 period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

Microsoft Company 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.