4,783 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co

Key Points

• Alesco Advisors cut its Microsoft stake by 23.6% in the second quarter, selling 4,783 shares and retaining 15,476 shares valued at approximately $5.8 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft insiders sold roughly 143,009 shares worth $71.4 million over the past three months, including sales by executives Takeshi Numoto and Amy Hood under a Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with 43 Buy ratings, a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $571.18. Microsoft also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.

Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 23.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,476 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,783 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.1% of Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co's holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Hapoalim BM grew its stake in Microsoft by 17.4% in the second quarter. Bank Hapoalim BM now owns 34,242 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,773,000 after purchasing an additional 5,077 shares in the last quarter. Red Lighthouse Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Red Lighthouse Investment Management LLC now owns 15,420 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,752,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Juno Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Juno Financial Group LLC now owns 14,775 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,511,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% in the second quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 219,052 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $81,711,000 after buying an additional 4,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.2% during the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 19,643 shares of the software giant's stock worth $7,327,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% 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 Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $571.18.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $517.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The business's 50 day moving average is $490.08 and its 200-day moving average is $429.97.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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