Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 1,446 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 0.4%, selling 1,446 shares, which now represent about 6.3% of its investment portfolio.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock for approximately $75.3 million, resulting in a 15.87% decrease in his ownership.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for November 20th.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 398,450 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,446 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.3% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $198,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birchbrook Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,375,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd raised its stake 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 valued at $2,490,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its stake 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 valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Point Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $1,811,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9%

Microsoft stock traded up $9.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $517.93. 52,313,925 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,095,838. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $511.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $458.31. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

About Microsoft

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.