Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Sells 57,096 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Harbor Investment Advisory LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 37.5% in the first quarter, selling 57,096 shares and leaving it with 94,967 shares worth about $35.2 million.
• Microsoft recently posted strong quarterly results, beating estimates on both earnings and revenue, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• Despite positive fundamentals, the stock faces mixed sentiment: analysts still mostly rate it a Buy, but recent headlines include price-target cuts and a securities fraud class action tied to AI/Copilot disclosures.

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 37.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,967 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 57,096 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.8% of Harbor Investment Advisory LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

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 Up 0.2%

MSFT opened at $385.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $402.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $414.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. New Street Research reduced their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $559.84.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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