Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Raised by Bell Bank

Key Points

• Bell Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation by 2.5% during the second quarter, owning 38,472 shares now valued at approximately $19 million, making it the bank's 15th largest holding.
• Insider transactions include sales by executives Takeshi Numoto and CEO Satya Nadella, who sold 4,850 and 149,205 shares respectively, reflecting significant decreases in their ownership stakes.
• Microsoft declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%, which is an increase from the previous dividend of $0.83.

Bell Bank increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,472 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 0.9% of Bell Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Bell Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Truist Financial raised 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $614.45.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $511.46 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $463.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

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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