Stevens Capital Management LP Trims Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP reduced its stake in Microsoft by 52.1%, now holding 6,162 shares valued at approximately $2.31 million.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for Microsoft, with UBS and Cantor Fitzgerald setting new targets of $650.00 and $639.00, respectively, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83, which will be paid on September 11th, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Stevens Capital Management LP decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 52.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,162 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,712 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price objective (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective 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 assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.6%

NASDAQ MSFT traded down $12.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $495.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,963,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,259,959. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $509.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.01. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. 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.