Summit Financial Strategies Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Summit Financial Strategies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,718 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,150 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.8% of Summit Financial Strategies Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Summit Financial Strategies Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fosun International Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.6%

MSFT stock traded up $3.20 on Monday, hitting $498.20. 16,724,087 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,521,180. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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 business's fifty day moving average is $509.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.72. The stock has a market capitalization 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business'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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.