GraniteShares Advisors LLC Sells 2,770 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

GraniteShares Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,481 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,770 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.5% of GraniteShares Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest holding. GraniteShares Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $457,119,000 after acquiring an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,930,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Melius Research upped their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $513.43 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $512.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $473.79.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% 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 corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.

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