Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC trimmed its Microsoft position by 2.4% in the second quarter, but the 160,948 shares remaining were worth approximately $60.0 million and represented 5.5% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft reported quarterly EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, beating analyst expectations, while revenue increased 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $564.27.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 from $0.91, but insiders sold roughly $71.4 million worth of shares over the past 90 days, adding a potential near-term sentiment concern.

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 160,948 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,999 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.5% of Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $60,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chris Bulman Inc grew its position in Microsoft by 3.2% during the second quarter. Chris Bulman Inc now owns 2,640 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $985,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Meridian Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 2.5% in the second quarter. Meridian Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,551,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Sippican Capital Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 19.4% in the second quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 1,215 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Lee Financial Co boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the second quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 13,998 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,221,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA now owns 5,255 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,960,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Evercore set a $528.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price objective 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 given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $564.27.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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 Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $493.78 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $466.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. Company 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.

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