Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Sells 4,804 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc has reduced its Microsoft holdings by 8.4%, selling 4,804 shares and now owning 52,102 shares valued at approximately $25.9 million.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft at an average price of $504.78, marking a 15.87% decrease in his ownership.
• Microsoft has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91, up from $0.83, with an ex-dividend date set for November 20th.

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,102 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,804 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.7% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.7%

MSFT stock opened at $514.45 on Tuesday. 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 company 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. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $511.94 and a 200-day moving average of $459.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share 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 a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price target (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective 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 assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

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.

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