53,850 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Headlands Technologies LLC

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies cut its Microsoft stake by 76% in the second quarter, selling 53,850 shares and retaining 17,028 shares valued at approximately $6.35 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with revenue rising 17.7% year over year to $90.01 billion and EPS of $4.74, beating analyst expectations. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 43 Buy ratings and an average price target of $590.30, though investors continue to monitor heavy AI spending, potential margin pressure and infrastructure constraints.

Headlands Technologies LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 76.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,028 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 53,850 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.7% of Headlands Technologies LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Headlands Technologies LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $27,338,370,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $6,928,664,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,653,812,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft received a bullish signal ahead of its Oct. 28 earnings report after Bernstein raised its price target to $662 and maintained an “Outperform” rating. Investors are watching Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligations, and whether Microsoft’s more than $115 billion in recent capital spending is translating into AI revenue. Microsoft Given New Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein
• Positive Sentiment: The company unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator and plans multi-gigawatt deployments beginning next year. The chip could reduce Microsoft’s reliance on Nvidia and lower inference costs, supporting the long-term economics of its AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft's New AI Chip Could Change the Economics of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced security controls for enterprise AI agents and emphasized that frontier models can pose insider-threat-like risks. The initiative could strengthen demand for Microsoft’s security products as businesses adopt agentic AI. Microsoft Introduces Security Features for AI Agents
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Microsoft as a broad way to monetize AI through Azure, Copilot, software subscriptions, and security. Expectations call for Azure growth of roughly 45%, though capacity constraints could limit near-term upside. Microsoft Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer from Nscale’s planned U.K. AI data center, reportedly because of electricity-grid and power-supply delays. The decision highlights infrastructure constraints but may also reflect disciplined capital allocation; third-party operators could benefit if hyperscalers build less capacity themselves. Microsoft Pulls Out of U.K. Data Center Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s aggressive AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow and margins if Azure monetization does not accelerate. One analyst also said Maia remains well behind Nvidia and Google’s custom chips, limiting its near-term competitive impact. Microsoft AI Bull Case and Valuation Risks

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $533.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's fifty day moving average is $506.08 and its 200 day moving average is $442.31. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, William Blair began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $590.30.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company's principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.

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