Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Reduced by Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC

Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,191 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 642 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after buying an additional 6,101,005 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $514.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $496.63.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC upped their price target on Microsoft from $643.00 to $648.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $633.59.

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.