Sandy Cove Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 11.7%, owning 14,933 shares valued at $7.43 million, making Microsoft its 12th largest holding.
• Microsoft recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91, up from the previous $0.83, with a dividend yield of 0.7% and an ex-dividend date of November 20th.
• Multiple analysts raised their price targets for Microsoft, with estimates ranging from $605 to $675, and the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $612.54.

Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,933 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.7% of Sandy Cove Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was 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.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $517.93 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $511.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $458.74. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast 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 given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. Citigroup lifted their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.

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