Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Has $12.88 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 2.3% in the second quarter, raising its holdings to $12.88 million, making Microsoft the fifth largest position in their portfolio.
• A number of brokerages have upgraded Microsoft, with price targets now reaching as high as $650.00, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, with an ex-dividend date of November 20th, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,887 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 2.9% of Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,753 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,349,000 after buying an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 32,507 shares of the software giant's stock worth $16,169,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,537,000. LexAurum Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the second quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 16,154 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,035,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,109,500 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,049,287,000 after purchasing an additional 21,374 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Melius Research upped their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $618.97.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $513.58 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.65, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.03. The business's 50 day moving average price is $511.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $475.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 24.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.

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