English Capital Management LLC Sells 2,369 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• English Capital Management reduced its Microsoft position by 19.5% in the second quarter, selling 2,369 shares and retaining 9,795 shares valued at approximately $3.65 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish: 43 analysts rate Microsoft a Buy, with an average price target of $570.62 versus the reported share price of $512.90. Analysts cite Azure growth, expanding Copilot demand and new enterprise AI opportunities, while warning that heavy AI infrastructure spending could pressure free cash flow.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year, and EPS of $4.74, beating estimates. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, equivalent to a 0.8% annualized yield.

English Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,795 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,369 shares during the period. English Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock worth $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler raised its price target to $610 from $550 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing improving estimates for Microsoft’s commercial cloud business and potential revenue from the new E7 enterprise licensing tier. Why is Microsoft stock up on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s revamped Copilot is becoming more enterprise-focused, while usage-based billing expected to begin in November could simplify adoption and improve monetization. Analysts also see potential for paid Copilot seats to continue expanding rapidly. What a Revamped Copilot Means for Microsoft Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is bringing OpenAI’s autonomous “Dots” agents into its enterprise security and governance framework, strengthening its position in workplace AI. A long-term Xbox publishing agreement with Take-Two also supports the gaming ecosystem. Microsoft Brings OpenAI’s Autonomous Dots AI Workers Into the Enterprise
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft has delivered a substantial quarterly rally, but its valuation remains below its recent average P/E despite strong Azure growth, expanding Copilot demand and a sizable commercial backlog. This leaves room for additional upside, although expectations are already elevated. How Much Upside Is Left In Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that surging AI infrastructure spending could outpace free cash flow before Azure and Copilot returns fully materialize. Microsoft also warns that AI agents may weaken traditional software pricing power and customer loyalty. The AI Revolution Could Be Microsoft’s Next Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and set a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.62.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $512.90 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $484.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Profile

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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