J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. Sells 2,522 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• J. L. Bainbridge & Co. reduced its Microsoft stake by 2,522 shares in the second quarter, leaving it with 314,580 shares valued at approximately $117.3 million. Microsoft remains the firm’s second-largest holding, representing about 9.2% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Microsoft: 42 analysts rate the stock a Buy and five rate it a Hold, with a consensus price target of $564.27. The company also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share from $0.91, while insiders have sold 143,009 shares worth about $71.4 million over the past 90 days.

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 314,580 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,522 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 9.2% of J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $117,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanderbilt University grew its position in Microsoft by 64.3% in the second quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 36,416 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $13,584,000 after acquiring an additional 14,252 shares during the period. Herold Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 37,327 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $13,930,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. BetterWealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 26.3% in the second quarter. BetterWealth LLC now owns 1,820 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $679,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 10.7% during the second quarter. Hidden Cove Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,948 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,711,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.9% during the second quarter. My Personal CFO LLC now owns 52,047 shares of the software giant's stock worth $19,415,000 after buying an additional 3,824 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Evercore set a $528.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $564.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

MSFT stock opened at $493.78 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $466.97 and a 200-day moving average of $422.77.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 20.27%.

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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