Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 28.3% in the 2nd quarter, owning 4,516 shares after selling 1,781 shares, which now represent 0.4% of its investment portfolio.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares, decreasing his ownership of Microsoft by 15.87%.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, to be paid on December 11th, raising its annual yield to 0.7%.

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 28.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,516 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,781 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.4% of Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birchbrook Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,375,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $514.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $511.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $459.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

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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