Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,642 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $69,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.33.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

MSFT stock opened at $485.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company’s 50 day moving average is $510.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $499.71.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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.