Gradient Investments LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Gradient Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) by 0.7%, owning approximately 273,393 shares valued at $135.99 million, representing about 2.5% of its total holdings.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, up from $0.83, with a dividend yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 24.34%.
• Wall Street analysts have high expectations for Microsoft, with several firms raising their price targets, including $650 from UBS Group, indicating a strong outlook for the stock.

Gradient Investments LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 273,393 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,950 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.5% of Gradient Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $135,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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 position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after buying an additional 2,306,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business'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 value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock traded up $9.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $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 quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $511.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $458.31. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 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.