Brand Asset Management Group Inc. Sells 1,327 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Brand Asset Management Group Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft by 29.0%, now holding 3,242 shares worth approximately $1.6 million after selling 1,327 shares in Q2.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Microsoft, with Scotiabank raising theirs to $650.00 and other firms suggesting target prices ranging from $613.00 to $675.00.
• Microsoft will increase its quarterly dividend to $0.91, marking a rise from the previous $0.83, with an ex-dividend date on November 20th.

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 29.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,242 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,327 shares during the period. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clarus Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Clarus Wealth Advisors now owns 4,823 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 14,953 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,440,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 9,093 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 2,518 shares during the last quarter. Connective Portfolio Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. Connective Portfolio Management LLC now owns 7,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,713,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup upped their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wedbush increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $514.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $511.94 and a 200-day moving average of $459.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This 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 the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% 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 corporate insiders.

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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