Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,846 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 772 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.1% of Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Seek First Inc. increased 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 valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Level Financial Advisors increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Arete boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.47.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $503.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $513.96 and a 200 day moving average of $495.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 33.47%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.