Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by General Partner Inc.

Key Points

• General Partner Inc. reduced its holdings in Microsoft by 7.5%, selling 1,750 shares, leaving it with 21,551 shares valued at approximately $10.7 million.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarterly performance with earnings per share of $3.65, exceeding analysts' expectations, while also announcing an increase in its dividend from $0.83 to $0.91.
• Various hedge funds have recently increased their stakes in Microsoft, with institutional investors now owning 71.13% of the company's stock.

General Partner Inc. lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,551 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,750 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.3% of General Partner Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. General Partner Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 155.7% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president 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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $9.48 on Friday, hitting $517.93. The company had a trading volume of 52,313,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,095,838. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $511.71 and a 200 day moving average of $457.92. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (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 prior 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

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.