Sharp Financial Services LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sharp Financial Services LLC lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,538 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 391 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.1% of Sharp Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Sharp Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Retirement Planning Group LLC NY raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 61.1% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC NY now owns 2,415 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares in the last quarter. Libra Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Libra Wealth LLC now owns 11,258 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,600,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.2% in the second quarter. CCG Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,573,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the second quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 121,970 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $60,669,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 22.7% in the second quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,909 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,447,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1%

Microsoft stock opened at $496.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $513.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $492.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.47% and a net margin of 35.71%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.47.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock valued at $97,840,842. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.