2,477 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,501 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,477 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.3% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Box Hill Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,270,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant's stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant's stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mann Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 1.3% in the second quarter. Mann Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,921 shares of the software giant's stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.37, for a total value of $3,976,622.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 548,091 shares of the company's stock, valued at $298,364,297.67. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. CLSA reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $610.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.54.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

MSFT stock traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $523.88. 26,130,357 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $559.15. The stock's fifty day moving average is $519.00 and its 200-day moving average is $441.85. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The firm's revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.00%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

These are some of the MSFT stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported improving availability and said Outlook email queues were approaching normal levels, easing some immediate concern about the disruption. One analyst reiterated a Buy rating and a $630 price target, citing Azure growth of 48% and expected growth of 49%–50% in fiscal Q2. Microsoft outage recovery update Analyst Buy rating and price target
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.

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