Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 1,199 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1%, owning 37,282 shares after selling 1,199 shares during the first quarter, which represents 3.2% of its investment portfolio.
• Microsoft's stock recently increased by 0.5% to $507.97, with a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $3.32 and a dividend yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 11th.

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,282 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,199 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.2% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,375,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp raised Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of MSFT traded down $12.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $495.00. The company had a trading volume of 31,963,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,259,959. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company's fifty day moving average price is $509.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.01.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.34%.

About Microsoft

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.