Vista Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,090 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Vista Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 8.7%, selling 1,090 shares and retaining a total of 11,439 shares valued at approximately $5.69 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their investments in Microsoft, with Vanguard Group owning about 691 million shares, valued at over $259 billion.
• Microsoft's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $3.65 EPS and $76.44 billion in revenue, demonstrating an 18.1% increase year-over-year.

Vista Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,439 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,090 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.6% of Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 62,267,822 shares of the software giant's stock worth $23,374,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" 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 issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $614.45.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% 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

Microsoft stock opened at $511.46 on Friday. 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 $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50-day moving average is $512.03 and its 200 day moving average is $462.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. 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. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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