Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Evernest Financial Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Evernest Financial Advisors LLC has reduced its stake in Microsoft by 77.5%, selling 41,632 shares and holding 12,074 shares, now representing 1.6% of their portfolio valued at $4.53 million.
• Microsoft reported strong earnings, with an EPS of $3.65, exceeding estimates, and revenue of $76.44 billion, a year-over-year increase of 18.1%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, with a yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 24.34%, payable on September 11th.

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 77.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,074 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 41,632 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.6% of Evernest Financial Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $3,035,987,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business'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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

MSFT stock traded up $1.96 on Wednesday, hitting $500.37. 21,586,104 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,136,094. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $510.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.38. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. 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 fiscal year.

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.