Beacon Bank & Trust Sells 1,911 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Beacon Bank & Trust reduced its Microsoft stake by 5.2%, selling 1,911 shares and retaining 34,694 shares valued at approximately $12.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft’s AI strategy remains a major focus, with its redesigned Copilot integrating Office, coding and automation tools. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 43 Buy ratings, a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $569.29.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, exceeding analyst expectations, while revenue rose 17.7% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, an 8% rise.

Beacon Bank & Trust cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,694 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,911 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.5% of Beacon Bank & Trust's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Beacon Bank & Trust's holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. ProVise Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 97,541 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 16,291 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,077,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Excalibur Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 28,594 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,986 shares during the last quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,323,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sitrin Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 14,424 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,381,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft's Autopilot opens new AI revenue path
• Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach
• Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award
• Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore set a $528.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $569.29.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $480.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $427.02. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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