Financial Advocates Investment Management Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Financial Advocates Investment Management reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 75.4%, holding 28,678 shares valued at approximately $10.77 million after selling 87,744 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have responded positively, with multiple upgrades; Jefferies raised its target price from $600 to $675, while 31 analysts currently rate Microsoft's stock as a buy.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.6% and a payout ratio of 24.34%.

Financial Advocates Investment Management decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 75.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,678 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 87,744 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.8% of Financial Advocates Investment Management's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Financial Advocates Investment Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 10,431,988 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after buying an additional 3,103,212 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock worth $25,273,704,000 after buying an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock traded down $6.4590 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $510.6410. The company had a trading volume of 11,715,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,233,500. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $503.49 and a 200-day moving average of $441.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.43, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays lifted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,350 shares of company stock valued at $14,162,567 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.