Bristlecone Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Bristlecone Advisors LLC cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 316,184 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 12,120 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 13.2% of Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $157,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 14.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,101,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $492.12 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $509.95 and a 200-day moving average of $500.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations 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 period in the prior year, the business 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.33.

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.