iA Global Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• iA Global Asset Management cut its Microsoft stake by 8.7% in the first quarter, selling 88,518 shares and ending with 926,452 shares valued at about $342.9 million.
• Microsoft insiders also sold stock recently, including EVP Takeshi Numoto and CEO Judson Althoff, with total insider sales of 23,762 shares worth about $10.5 million over the past 90 days.
• Despite the selling, analysts remain constructive: Microsoft has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, and the company recently beat earnings and revenue expectations while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 926,452 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 88,518 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.9% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $342,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. China Renaissance decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, New Street Research cut their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $559.84.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $385.10. 24,605,248 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 44,511,868. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $402.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.58. 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 posted its 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Key Stories Impacting 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 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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