Davidson Trust Co. Sells 7,160 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Davidson Trust Co. reduced its Microsoft stake by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,160 shares and leaving it with 42,948 shares worth about $20.77 million. Microsoft remains the firm’s largest holding, making up 8.7% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion versus $81.44 billion expected. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, underscoring continued growth.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive on the stock despite some recent target cuts, with 39 Buy ratings and 7 Hold ratings and a consensus price target of $560.88. Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11.

Davidson Trust Co. cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,948 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 7,160 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 8.7% of Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. DZ Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $405.21 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $397.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $442.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during 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%.Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reaffirmed Microsoft as an outperform and kept a $575 price target, while Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to buy with a $485 target, underscoring Wall Street’s continued optimism about Microsoft’s long-term AI and cloud growth. Benzinga report
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top long-term or “battered” software stock, with some investors seeing the pullback as an opportunity to buy a dominant franchise at a more attractive valuation. 247WallSt article
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly looking at startup acquisitions to reduce dependence on OpenAI, which could be a strategic positive over time but also signals that the current partnership is not viewed as fully secure. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: LinkedIn plans to cut about 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring, which may support margins but also reflects caution across Microsoft’s broader business. Reuters/Invezz article
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing testimony in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is putting Microsoft’s role in OpenAI under a microscope, reviving concerns about governance, reliance on OpenAI, and possible legal or reputational overhang. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are worried that Microsoft’s AI capex is rising faster than the market can justify, with articles warning that the company must prove a timely return on its AI investments to sustain the stock’s premium. Motley Fool article

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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