Triangle Securities Wealth Management Sells 2,004 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Triangle Securities Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,920 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,004 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Triangle Securities Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Triangle Securities Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Hoge Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 25.5% in the first quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 7,122 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares during the period. Dagco Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.3% during the first quarter. Dagco Inc. now owns 13,388 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,956,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 387,641 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $143,493,000 after buying an additional 22,843 shares in the last quarter. Norway Savings Bank grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 19,829 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,340,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Chatterton & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Chatterton & Associates Inc. now owns 3,962 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,478,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company’ to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore’s Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.86.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $406.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $418.05.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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).