Arax Advisory Partners Sells 95,641 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Arax Advisory Partners reduced its Microsoft stake by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 95,641 shares and leaving it with 89,538 shares valued at about $43.3 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue of $82.89 billion topping expectations, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• Wall Street remains bullish overall: analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus, and Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share payable September 10.

Arax Advisory Partners cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 89,538 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 95,641 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.3% of Arax Advisory Partners' portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Arax Advisory Partners' holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second 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 period. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, President Capital boosted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.74 on Friday. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $411.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

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).

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