Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Trimmed by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,572 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,835 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 6.9% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $111,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 66.7% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Arete upped their price target on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Melius Research upped their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $617.44.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $523.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $511.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $480.95. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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