Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,285 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 358 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Seek First Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Red Mountain Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’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 value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the 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 directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $511.14 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $514.05 and a 200-day moving average of $495.03. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.35, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Arete lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.