Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Bollard Group LLC

Key Points

• Bollard Group LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 2.2% in the first quarter, selling 6,470 shares and retaining 284,246 shares valued at approximately $105.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarter, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, surpassing analyst estimates and representing 17.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, giving Microsoft a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $559.16 price target. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while insiders sold roughly $17.8 million of stock over the past three months.

Bollard Group LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 284,246 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,470 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of Bollard Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Bollard Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $105,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 29.5% in the first quarter. GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. now owns 3,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 130,045 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $48,139,000 after buying an additional 7,757 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 28.1% during the 1st quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 144,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $53,417,000 after acquiring an additional 31,622 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 8,276 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,064,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pennington Partners & CO. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 90.3% in the first quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC now owns 11,160 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,131,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $506.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $405.77 and a 200-day moving average of $406.95. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. CLSA reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $559.16.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 chip plans support the rally: Reports say Microsoft could unveil its Maia 300 AI accelerator as early as September and secure capacity for more than 300,000 chips by 2027, with longer-term ambitions exceeding one million units. The effort could reduce Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia, lower AI-computing costs and potentially attract customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see measured AI investment and further upside: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target from $647 to $660, arguing that the company is not building data-center capacity too aggressively. The firm said new infrastructure would remain useful for Azure even if AI demand moderated. Microsoft's Datacenter Spending Is Disciplined
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth and backlog underpin investor confidence: JPMorgan cited Microsoft’s Azure expansion, substantial backlog and improving AI monetization while supporting higher market-wide earnings forecasts. Other bullish commentary points to strong recent results, including reported Azure growth and broad Copilot adoption. Microsoft Stock Rises as JPMorgan Backs AI Payoff
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns add support: Microsoft’s large-scale dividends and share repurchases reinforce its position as a cash-generating technology leader, although investors are also evaluating how much capital is being redirected toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft Stock Runs One of the Market's Biggest Cash-Return Machines
• Neutral Sentiment: AI opportunity comes with execution risks: Analysts continue debating whether megacap AI spending will generate adequate cash flow. Separately, reports of AI models reaching real-world systems could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s autonomous-agent products and enterprise security controls.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal notices remain an overhang: Investor-rights firms are promoting a securities class action involving purchases made between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. The notices do not establish liability but could add reputational and litigation risk.

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).

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