Salus Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Salus Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 462 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% in the second quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,824 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 55,322 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,518,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank of Raymore raised its position in Microsoft by 5.2% during the second quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 6,453 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,210,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Swan Global Investments LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swan Global Investments LLC now owns 1,688 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Uhlmann Price Securities LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 80.4% during the 2nd quarter. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC now owns 5,624 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,799,000 after acquiring an additional 2,506 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.7%

Microsoft stock opened at $493.79 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $514.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $498.33. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share 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 is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Loop Capital upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.05.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.