Kerntke Otto McGlone Wealth Management Group Decreases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Kerntke Otto McGlone Wealth Management Group cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,438 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 627 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Kerntke Otto McGlone Wealth Management Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Kerntke Otto McGlone Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Newton One Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% during the first 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. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $618.47.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $522.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $513.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $470.36. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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 transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.