Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 752,147 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 41,960 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.5% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $374,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,220 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,057,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Curran Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 31.7% during the 2nd quarter. Curran Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,332 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 9,047 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Point Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $24,023,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $617.44.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $523.61 on Friday. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $511.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $480.95. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

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. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.