Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC

Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,615 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 190 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.7% of Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Virtus Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Guggenheim upgraded Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $634.47.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.5%

MSFT stock opened at $508.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $513.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.92. 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 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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.