Comerica Bank Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Comerica Bank trimmed its Microsoft stake by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 91,362 shares and leaving it with 1,658,593 shares worth about $802.1 million. Microsoft remains Comerica’s third-largest holding.
• Insider selling continued at Microsoft, with EVP Amy Coleman and EVP Kathleen T. Hogan both reducing their holdings in separate transactions. Company insiders now own just 0.03% of the stock.
• Analysts still view Microsoft favorably despite lower price targets, with 39 Buy ratings and seven Hold ratings. The consensus rating remains “Moderate Buy,” with an average target price of $560.88.

Comerica Bank reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,658,593 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 91,362 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.2% of Comerica Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Comerica Bank's holdings in Microsoft were worth $802,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. New Street Research dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Dbs Bank dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly deepening its AI strategy through talks with Anthropic over use of its Maia AI chips, which could expand demand for Microsoft’s custom silicon and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft's AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s reported integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerPoint highlights tighter product tie-ins that could boost adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and broader enterprise AI usage. ChatGPT Lands in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to accelerate corporate AI adoption, reinforcing expectations that Microsoft can monetize AI across large enterprise customers. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles and analyst notes framed MSFT as an undervalued momentum name with AI catalysts building, including RBC reiterating a buy rating, which may be supporting shares. Microsoft had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Royal Bank Of Canada
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is undergoing an internal AI-era leadership reset, including the planned departure of longtime executive Yusuf Mehdi, which signals strategic change but also adds some organizational uncertainty. Microsoft veteran executive Yusuf Mehdi is leaving after the next fiscal year
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage focused on Microsoft’s GitHub outages and higher AI operating costs, raising questions about execution, infrastructure strain, and whether AI usage is becoming too expensive to scale smoothly. Microsoft's GitHub was positioned to win the AI coding race. Outages got in the way
• Negative Sentiment: The Gates Foundation’s sale of its remaining Microsoft stake was a headline overhang, though it appears more like portfolio rebalancing than a direct read on Microsoft’s fundamentals. The Gates Foundation Sold All of Its Remaining Microsoft Stock. Should Investors Be Worried?

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.57 on Monday. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $399.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $436.92. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The business's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

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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