ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Decreases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• ABN AMRO Bank reduced its Microsoft stake by 26.4% in the second quarter, selling 432,974 shares and retaining 1.21 million shares valued at approximately $449.5 million. Microsoft remains the bank’s second-largest holding.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 41 analysts rating Microsoft a Buy and the stock carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $578.73. Melius Research recently upgraded the shares to Buy with a $665 target.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Insiders, however, sold roughly $71.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 26.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,208,194 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 432,974 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.8% of ABN AMRO Bank N.V.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. ABN AMRO Bank N.V.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $449,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frankly Finances LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 37.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Glynn Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% during the second quarter. Glynn Capital Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $578.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value 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. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Company 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: Melius Research upgraded Microsoft to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $665. The firm said rising corporate concerns about AI risks could increase demand for Microsoft’s security, governance and compliance products, while positioning Azure as a relatively dependable way to participate in the AI trend. Microsoft stock rises as Melius upgrades to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Broad market strength also supported MSFT. The Nasdaq reached a record as megacap technology stocks rallied on optimism about earnings growth, with Microsoft among the sector leaders. Expectations for strong technology-sector profits continue to support investor appetite for the shares. Nasdaq hits record as megacap gains offset elevated Treasury yields
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues expanding Copilot’s enterprise usefulness. Wood Mackenzie connected its proprietary energy data and analytics to Microsoft Copilot through a new Model Context Protocol connector, providing another example of specialized business content being integrated into Microsoft’s AI ecosystem. Wood Mackenzie connects energy intelligence with Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming Xbox and Xbox Game Pass releases provided a smaller consumer-business catalyst. New game launches may support engagement and subscription activity, although the impact is likely less significant than Azure and AI developments. Microsoft stock rises ahead of new Xbox game releases
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft and Meta reportedly encouraged employees to reduce their use of Anthropic’s Claude in favor of internal AI tools. The move could lower Microsoft’s external AI expenses and strengthen Copilot adoption, but it also indicates ongoing competition and uncertainty over which AI models will deliver the best economics. Microsoft and Meta steer staff from Anthropic Claude to in-house AI
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon hired longtime Microsoft AI executive Pedram Rezaei, formerly associated with Copilot. The departure could raise concerns about retaining senior AI talent as cloud and software rivals intensify their competition. Amazon hires a Microsoft AI leader
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on execution risks. Microsoft’s large backlog offers revenue visibility, but the timing of recognition, infrastructure spending and cash conversion could limit near-term benefits. Questions also remain about whether Copilot can become a breakout AI application. How much revenue visibility does Microsoft’s backlog provide?

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $525.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 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. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $492.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.