Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,303 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $15,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 315,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $133,023,000 after acquiring an additional 18,052 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,426 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 1,748 shares of the software giant's stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,075,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer increased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Microsoft stock traded down $3.8540 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $505.9160. 13,218,214 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,237,680. 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's 50 day moving average price is $504.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $442.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.06. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,406,512. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.