Arlington Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Arlington Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,381 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,098 shares during the quarter. Arlington Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 29.9% during the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was 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 Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $508.68 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $513.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $630.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $634.47.

About Microsoft

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.