Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Albion Financial Group UT's 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• Albion Financial Group UT reduced its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the second quarter, but the 124,796-share position remains its ninth-largest holding, representing 2.7% of its portfolio and valued at $46.6 million.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly expectations with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 17.7% year over year; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98, although recent insider sales and concerns about AI spending remain risks.

Albion Financial Group UT lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,796 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,713 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.7% of Albion Financial Group UT's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Albion Financial Group UT's holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.0% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock worth $85,604,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after purchasing an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $493.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $466.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.77. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. 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 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week 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 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.