Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Exeter Financial LLC

Exeter Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,359 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 488 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.3% of Exeter Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Exeter Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant's stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Oak Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.9% in the second quarter. Great Oak Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,157,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This 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 insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $524.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $513.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $469.46. 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 results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $585.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $618.47.

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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