Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,945 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,459 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.9% of Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $10,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $513.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $512.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $473.79. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.03.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company'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 owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% 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, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company'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 directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Arete lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $618.47.

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.

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