Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc.

Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,648 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,663 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.9% of Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Evercore decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. China Renaissance decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% 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.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft won a major healthcare AI win, with NHS England planning a rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and staff. The deal could expand recurring Copilot adoption and reinforces Microsoft’s AI monetization story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts pointed to fresh support for Azure and Microsoft’s broader AI cloud business, including commentary that rising AI infrastructure demand could boost cloud upside and longer-term earnings growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also received positive coverage around its AI strategy, with articles highlighting its agentic AI ambitions and Citi reaffirming a Buy rating with a $620 price target, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s open-source GitHub projects were reportedly compromised by hackers trying to steal AI developer logins, which is a security concern but not yet a clear direct financial hit. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several pieces discussed Microsoft’s long-term AI position, OpenAI relationship, and stock valuation, but these were mostly commentary rather than new business updates. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft stock is also facing pressure from reports that it is “sinking” despite some positive news, reflecting investor caution after recent gains and a broader rotation away from mega-cap tech. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Short-interest data and hedge-fund activity added to the cautious tone, with articles noting Microsoft has been a recent target of heavy debate and that David Tepper sold most of Appaloosa’s Microsoft position. Article Title

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $403.41 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $409.48 and its 200-day moving average is $430.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).