Webster Bank N. A. Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Webster Bank N. A. reduced its Microsoft shares by 3.3% in Q2, now holding 71,674 shares valued at approximately $35.65 million.
• Both Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and EVP Takeshi Numoto decreased their ownership stakes, with Nadella selling over 149,000 shares in September.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.83 to $0.91, effective for stockholders of record on November 20th.

Webster Bank N. A. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,674 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,468 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of Webster Bank N. A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Webster Bank N. A.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $23,374,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents 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 brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded down $4.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $509.91. 7,260,959 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,143,365. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.39, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $511.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $459.59.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.