Bfsg LLC Sells 2,974 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Bfsg LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 4.9%, selling 2,974 shares and maintaining a total of 57,441 shares, which are valued at approximately $28.57 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft shares, with recommendations ranging from "outperform" to "buy" and an average consensus target price of $617.63.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Bfsg LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,441 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,974 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.2% of Bfsg LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Bfsg LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $517.35 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $512.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.17. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.93, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03. 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 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The business 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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