Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC

Key Points

• Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC has reduced its stake in Microsoft by 3.3%, selling 11,004 shares, while still holding 319,428 shares valued at approximately $158.9 million.
• Recent analyst ratings reflect bullish sentiment, with price targets for Microsoft share prices ranging from $545 to $625, contributing to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.91 per share, payable on December 11th, which represents a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.83.

Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 319,428 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 11,004 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 3.1% of Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $158,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 50.0% during the first quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $9.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $517.93. 52,313,925 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,095,838. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $511.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $457.92. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.95 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

About Microsoft

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.