Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 15.1%, now holding 10,685 shares valued at approximately $4,011,000.
• Microsoft reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.65, exceeding expectations, alongside a revenue of $76.44 billion, marking an 18.1% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, payable on September 11th, indicating a yield of 0.7%.

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,685 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,894 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 18.3% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 221,329 shares of the software giant's stock worth $83,085,000 after purchasing an additional 34,166 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.7% in the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 833,386 shares of the software giant's stock worth $312,845,000 after purchasing an additional 52,373 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 6.1% in the first quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 5,941 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Brickley Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 7.9% in the first quarter. Brickley Wealth Management now owns 2,044 shares of the software giant's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 4.6% in the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 188,169 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,637,000 after purchasing an additional 8,256 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $505.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06. The company's 50 day moving average is $504.93 and its 200 day moving average is $442.81. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 8,850 shares of company stock worth $4,406,512 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Company 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.

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