Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Strid Group LLC

Strid Group LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,146 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Strid Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Melius Research upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $617.44.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

MSFT stock opened at $523.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. 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 50-day moving average price of $511.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $481.83.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.