Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Artemis Investment Management LLP

Key Points

• Artemis Investment Management LLP cut its Microsoft stake by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 78,876 shares and leaving it with 422,693 shares valued at about $204.4 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings were strong, with EPS of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue rising 18.3% year over year to $82.89 billion. Analysts still largely remain bullish, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable on June 11, while recent news highlights continued optimism around AI, Azure, and new product announcements ahead of Build and Computex.

Artemis Investment Management LLP decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 422,693 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 78,876 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.5% of Artemis Investment Management LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $204,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company's fifty day moving average price is $402.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $434.62.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Microsoft 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).

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report).

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.