Dupont Capital Management Corp Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Dupont Capital Management trimmed its Microsoft stake by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,138 shares and leaving it with 111,828 shares worth about $54.1 million. Microsoft remains its third-largest holding at roughly 6.1% of the portfolio.
• Microsoft’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $4.27 versus the $4.06 consensus and revenue of $82.89 billion topping estimates. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, and analysts still expect full-year EPS of 16.76.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11, and Wall Street remains broadly positive overall. Analysts rate the stock a Moderate Buy on average, with a target price of $562.69.

Dupont Capital Management Corp trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,828 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 12,138 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 6.1% of Dupont Capital Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Dupont Capital Management Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $396.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $445.39. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Monday, February 9th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $562.69.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the 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 owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company 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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