Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by St. Clair Advisors LLC

Key Points

• St. Clair Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 1.5%, selling 850 shares, and now holds 54,093 shares valued at approximately $26.9 million.
• Microsoft reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, and revenue increased by 18.1% year-over-year to $76.44 billion.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share, with the payment scheduled for December 11th, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.83.

St. Clair Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,093 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 850 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 7.0% of St. Clair Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. St. Clair Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,561 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,766,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% in the second quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 58,716 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,891,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.4% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 321,307 shares of the software giant's stock worth $159,821,000 after acquiring an additional 16,403 shares during the period. Verde Capital Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% in the second quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 4,387 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,182,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 37.2% in the second quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 5,264 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Microsoft from $530.00 to $582.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $9.48 on Friday, reaching $517.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 52,313,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,095,838. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $511.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $458.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

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.