Bellevue Asset Management LLC Sells 4,944 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Bellevue Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 130,594 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,944 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 24.2% of Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $48,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles highlighted Microsoft’s AI strategy as a growth driver, including comments from CEO Satya Nadella about “the next massive AI trade” and enterprise customers integrating more partner AI tools into Microsoft’s ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive ahead of Microsoft’s late-July earnings report, with bullish notes pointing to strong Azure growth, large commercial backlog, and expectations that AI spending can support longer-term revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups argued Microsoft may be undervalued after this year’s pullback, with some firms seeing meaningful upside if the company converts AI and Azure demand into earnings growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw long-term investor support from institutional buying, government contract wins, and favorable analyst ratings, which helps reinforce confidence but is not a fresh catalyst by itself. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are also being weighed by class-action lawsuit headlines tied to alleged Copilot-related misrepresentations and securities fraud claims, which add legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern also remains centered on Microsoft’s heavy AI capital spending and environmental impact, with some commentary questioning whether rising capex and emissions can eventually pressure margins or sentiment. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. New Street Research lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $401.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $413.41. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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).