Whitener Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Whitener Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Microsoft by 2.2% during the second quarter, owning 41,235 shares after selling 915 shares, which is about 5.4% of its portfolio.
• CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock, marking a 15.87% decrease in his ownership, with the total sale amounting to approximately $75.3 million.
• Microsoft announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.91, representing a 0.7% yield, with the ex-dividend date set for November 20th.

Whitener Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,235 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 915 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.4% of Whitener Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Whitener Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the second quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Fosun International Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 6,326 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gagnon Securities LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 approximately $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 currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $617.63.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $519.71 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $464.83.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. 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.

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