Fulton Bank N.A. Sells 3,627 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Fulton Bank N.A. trimmed its Microsoft stake by 3.0% in the first quarter, selling 3,627 shares and leaving it with 118,042 shares valued at about $43.7 million.
• Microsoft continues to attract strong institutional ownership, with 71.13% of shares held by institutions, while several other funds recently added to or initiated positions in the stock.
• The company’s fundamentals remain solid: Microsoft recently beat earnings and revenue estimates, and analysts still largely rate the stock a buy with an average target price near $559.84, despite some mixed sentiment around AI spending and legal/headline risks.

Fulton Bank N.A. reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,042 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,627 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.5% of Fulton Bank N.A.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Fulton Bank N.A.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $43,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus lowered its price target on Microsoft but kept a buy rating, still implying roughly 32% upside from current levels. Benzinga / The Fly report on Argus price target cut
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Microsoft’s AI and Azure buildout as a long-term driver, with one piece arguing that AI data centers are effectively “pre-sold,” suggesting strong demand for Microsoft’s infrastructure spending. Article on AI spending returns
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings showed the company beat expectations on both revenue and EPS, reinforcing that the core business remains healthy despite the stock’s weak price action.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox/gaming unit is facing restructuring under Asha Sharma, including layoffs and tough decisions about studio strategy, which adds uncertainty but could improve efficiency over time. FT article on Xbox changes
• Neutral Sentiment: The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a jobs-and-productivity task force, keeping Microsoft in the policy conversation around AI and labor, but with no immediate financial impact. Yahoo Finance report on Fed task force
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued notices about a securities fraud class action tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations, increasing headline risk and investor caution. PR Newswire lawsuit notice
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Starbucks is building internal AI to replace some Microsoft software underscore a broader threat: customers may use AI to reduce reliance on Microsoft’s enterprise products, which could pressure future software revenue. MarketBeat Starbucks AI cost-cutting article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI expansion is also drawing criticism over rising emissions and heavy capital spending, feeding worries that the company is paying more for growth while investors question the payback period. TechXplore emissions report

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $385.10 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $402.33 and a 200-day moving average of $414.08. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for 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%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Scotiabank raised Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $559.84.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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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