Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,108 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 212 shares during the quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Real Talk Capital LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% in the first quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $54,376,000 after buying an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. Well Done LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 9,911 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,930,000 after buying an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.5% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 24,210 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $12,042,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.33.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $492.12 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $509.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $500.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This is a positive change 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%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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.