Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,986 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,514 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Microsoft Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $492.12 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average of $499.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.33.

About Microsoft

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.