Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Raised by Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,251 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.3% of Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the third quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 37,923 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $19,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the period. Hedeker Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.9% in the second quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 55,236 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $20,604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,652,000. Finally, Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,641,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock traded up $0.88 on Friday, hitting $523.88. The stock had a trading volume of 26,130,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $559.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $519.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $441.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.28% and a net margin of 41.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 19.00%.

Microsoft News Summary

Investors following MSFT have been watching these news items:

• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest quarterly results were strong: earnings per share and revenue exceeded estimates, with revenue up 18.8% year over year. That performance supports the longer-term growth case, although recent outage and competition headlines have drawn investor attention. Microsoft earnings and financial data
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total value of $2,655,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 54,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,892,772. The trade was a 8.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. KeyCorp set a $625.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Wolfe Research raised Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $665.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.54.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.