Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 71,252 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,686 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.2% of Cutler Investment Counsel LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Independence Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,054,000. Golden Reserve Retirement LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Brucke Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 18.1% during the first quarter. Brucke Financial Inc. now owns 7,096 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. FOCUS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,784 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,547,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC now owns 17,936 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,733,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value 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 $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock traded down $12.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $495.00. The stock had a trading volume of 31,963,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,697,988. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm's 50 day moving average is $509.93 and its 200 day moving average is $450.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft 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.