Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Foster & Motley Inc.

Key Points

• Foster & Motley Inc. increased its Microsoft stake by 7.3% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 80,287 shares valued at about $29.7 million. Microsoft is now its 11th-largest position.
• Microsoft posted strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both above Wall Street expectations. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, and analysts still expect full-year EPS of 16.76.
• The company continues to get support from enterprise AI momentum, including the launch of its $2.5 billion Microsoft Frontier Company and a five-year AI/cloud deal with Haleon. At the same time, insider selling and a securities fraud class action add some caution around the stock.

Foster & Motley Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,287 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,487 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.5% of Foster & Motley Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Foster & Motley Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $29,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after buying an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,056,019,000 after buying an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock worth $58,624,690,000 after acquiring an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.6%

MSFT opened at $390.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $406.99 and a 200-day moving average of $418.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend 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: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company' to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. President Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Phillip Securities raised Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.86.

About Microsoft

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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