Rockland Trust Co. Sells 4,423 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Rockland Trust Co. decreased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% in Q2, selling 4,423 shares and maintaining 225,534 shares, which represents the largest position in their investment portfolio valued at $112.18 million.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91, with an annual yield of 0.7%, reflecting a strong payout ratio of 24.34%.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Microsoft, with several firms now forecasting a price range between $625 and $675, while the stock currently trades near $511.46.

Rockland Trust Co. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 225,534 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,423 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.5% of Rockland Trust Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Rockland Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $112,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the first quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,496,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Real Talk Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $54,376,000 after acquiring an additional 40,860 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 86,477 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,463,000 after acquiring an additional 6,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,910 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $23,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $511.46 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $512.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $462.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 earnings per share. The company'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, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. Wedbush upped their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $614.45.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, 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.

Microsoft 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.

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.