Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 18,575 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 342,309 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 18,575 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.3% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $170,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during 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. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 14.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 49,338,953 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,521,349,000 after buying an additional 6,101,005 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $565.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $675.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $633.59.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $510.18 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’s 50 day moving average is $514.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $495.92. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current 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 given 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 payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 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 trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.