Forum Financial Management LP Sells 1,107 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Forum Financial Management LP reduced its Microsoft stake by 2.3%, selling 1,107 shares and retaining 46,743 shares valued at approximately $17.4 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $567.07.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, beating estimates, while revenue rose 17.7% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, or $3.92 annually.

Forum Financial Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,743 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,107 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 0.2% of Forum Financial Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Forum Financial Management LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,715,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599,412 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. CLSA reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore set a $528.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $567.07.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $501.61 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50-day moving average is $469.18 and its 200-day moving average is $423.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 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 currently 20.27%.

Key Stories 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% 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, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 company insiders.

Microsoft Company 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.

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