Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Highland Capital Management LLC

Highland Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 286,240 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,215 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.7% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $142,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,496,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 8.9% during the second quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after buying an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $523.61 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $482.47. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Melius Research raised their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Microsoft from $680.00 to $682.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $617.44.

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.