Strata Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Strata Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 7.3%, holding 9,529 shares after selling 748 shares in Q1.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Microsoft, with current estimates ranging from $550 to $675, indicating a strong buy outlook for the stock.
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.7%, with payment scheduled for September 11.

Strata Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,529 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 748 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Strata Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 50.0% in the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $506.69 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $508.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $447.33. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

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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