Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Lessened by Wealth Alliance LLC

Wealth Alliance LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 39,122 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,118 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.4% of Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Wealth Alliance LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore set a $528.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.16.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $407.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $407.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 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, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

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).