Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Key Points

• Bradley Foster & Sargent cut its Microsoft stake by 3.6% in the first quarter, selling 27,420 shares while retaining 733,631 shares valued at approximately $271.6 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings per share of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $559.16.
• Microsoft shares opened at $503.81, near their 52-week high of $553.72, while insiders sold 38,572 shares worth $17.8 million during the last quarter. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, yielding approximately 0.7%.

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 733,631 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 27,420 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT's holdings in Microsoft were worth $271,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.5% during the first quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA now owns 341,058 shares of the software giant's stock worth $126,249,000 after buying an additional 23,686 shares in the last quarter. Mustico Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 21.7% during the first quarter. Mustico Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,477 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth approximately $1,152,000. Unio Capital LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 32.4% during the first quarter. Unio Capital LLC now owns 121,057 shares of the software giant's stock worth $44,812,000 after acquiring an additional 29,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC now owns 346,829 shares of the software giant's stock worth $128,386,000 after acquiring an additional 10,771 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.16.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $407.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $407.37. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 currently 20.27%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

Microsoft Company 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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