Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Emerald Advisers LLC

Emerald Advisers LLC lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,737 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 721 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,590 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in Microsoft by 18.5% during the second quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 222,977 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $110,911,000 after buying an additional 34,808 shares in the last quarter. McMill Wealth Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% during the second quarter. McMill Wealth Management now owns 2,304 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the second quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,251,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 13,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,817,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $492.12 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. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $509.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.