Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting cut its Microsoft position by 44.6% in the second quarter, selling 1,572 shares and retaining 1,951 shares worth approximately $728,000. Other institutional investors generally increased their holdings, and institutions collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft insiders sold substantial shares, including CEO Satya Nadella’s $43.4 million sale and EVP Takeshi Numoto’s $2.4 million sale. Insiders sold 143,009 shares worth about $71.4 million over the past three months.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $567.07, though AI spending, regulation and valuation remain risks.

Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc. cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 44.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,951 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,572 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.5% of Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Boyce & Associates Wealth Consulting Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 17,734 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,615,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC now owns 18,842 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $7,028,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 14.8% during the second quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 32,358 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,070,000 after buying an additional 4,178 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the second quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 120,590 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $44,982,000 after buying an additional 3,369 shares during the period. Finally, ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 4,775 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,781,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $501.61 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $469.18 and a 200 day moving average of $423.62. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.8%. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher Azure prices could support growth and margins. BNP Paribas said Microsoft may gain another growth lever as higher Azure prices are introduced to renewing customers, assigning a $549 price target. Microsoft’s Azure Has Another Growth Lever Waiting in the Wings, Analyst Says
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their outlooks on AI demand. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its Microsoft price target from $522 to $608 and maintained an overweight rating, citing opportunities in AI and cybersecurity. Erste Group also raised its earnings estimates. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Microsoft Price Target to $608
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand remains substantial. Microsoft and Anthropic reportedly represent $87.7 billion of the $103 billion contract backlog at AI infrastructure provider Nscale, highlighting the scale of enterprise AI spending and potential Azure demand. Microsoft and Anthropic dominate Nscale’s contract backlog
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-return and valuation support added to the bullish case. Bill Ackman described Microsoft as a core holding after building a roughly $2.4 billion position, while Microsoft’s dividend increase and strong software franchise were cited as additional attractions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is adding a fourth cloud region in Hyderabad, improving geographic resilience, although the company provided no site-level capacity or investment details. Satya Nadella’s expected attendance at a Trump-Xi state dinner could provide diplomatic visibility but has limited direct financial impact.
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright and AI-regulation concerns remain overhangs. Publisher testimony in ongoing copyright disputes has intensified questions about whether AI products substitute for original content. Microsoft executives have also warned that divergent AI rules could affect industry economics. Microsoft Slips as AI Testimony Sharpens Copyright Risk
• Negative Sentiment: New gaming-advertising initiatives generated investor skepticism. A patent covering contextual in-game advertisements raised concerns about user experience and monetization strategy. Microsoft Stock Slips on Xbox Patent for Ads in Video Games
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are weighing elevated AI capital spending, cloud-security concerns following the Hugging Face incident and the possibility that expectations are already priced in after Microsoft’s powerful summer advance. Redburn’s lower $440 target underscores the disagreement over valuation.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $567.07.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

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.