Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Raises Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,905 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 829 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.6% of Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $486.74 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $500.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. 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 firm 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

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.