Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 2,292 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 165,187 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,292 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $82,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Private Client Services LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 7,849 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,904,000 after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 88,611 shares of the software giant's stock worth $44,076,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 8.0% in the first quarter. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,669 shares of the software giant's stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $103,760,000. Finally, Rainier Family Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 51.4% during the first quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 19,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,271,000 after purchasing an additional 6,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

MSFT stock opened at $509.04 on Wednesday. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $511.15 and a 200-day moving average of $455.82.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.