Axiom Financial Strategies LLC Sells 1,169 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 44.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,455 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,169 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.4% of Axiom Financial Strategies LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $472.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $498.37.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. 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 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.