Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,850,200 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 36,300 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.2% of Forsta AP Fonden's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Microsoft were worth $694,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Fosun International Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's 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 owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's 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 $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 company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.6%

MSFT traded up $3.20 during trading on Monday, reaching $498.20. 16,724,087 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,521,180. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $509.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $451.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

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.