Stableford Capital II LLC Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Stableford Capital II LLC cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,219 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 857 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.5% of Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Microsoft from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $633.59.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $503.29 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $513.96 and its 200 day moving average is $495.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick 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 company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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