Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Pictet North America Advisors SA

Key Points

• Pictet North America Advisors SA has reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation ($MSFT) by 7.0%, now holding 85,224 shares valued at approximately $42.23 million.
• Several major institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Kingstone Capital Partners, have recently increased their holdings in Microsoft, which now has 71.13% of its stock owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Microsoft recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, reflecting a positive change from its previous dividend of $0.83.

Pictet North America Advisors SA decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,224 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,440 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.2% of Pictet North America Advisors SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Pictet North America Advisors SA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% during 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 lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% during 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. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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 lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $617.63.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $517.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $512.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $467.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

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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