Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Cut by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 78,385 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,930 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.6% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted 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 worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $259,539,471,000 after acquiring an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $18,521,349,000 after acquiring an additional 6,101,005 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $496.82 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $513.88 and a 200 day moving average of $493.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for 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%.The company’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,555 shares of company stock valued at $97,840,842. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. DA Davidson set a $650.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.47.

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.