WealthPLAN Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

WealthPLAN Partners LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,278 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,864 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.5% of WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 66.7% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 29.9% in the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $503.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $513.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $495.09.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, 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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Microsoft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $633.59.

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.