Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Canoe Financial LP

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP trimmed its Microsoft stake by 1.8% in the first quarter, selling 9,150 shares and leaving it with 513,331 shares valued at about $190.0 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• The company continues to face mixed signals from insiders and analysts: several executives sold shares recently, but Wall Street still largely remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $560.98.

Canoe Financial LP cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 513,331 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 9,150 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.6% of Canoe Financial LP's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Canoe Financial LP's holdings in Microsoft were worth $190,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $388.84 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $404.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $416.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is getting credit for shifting more AI workloads to its own in-house models, which could lower costs and improve margins in products like Excel and Outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish, arguing Microsoft’s Azure growth and AI infrastructure spending support the long-term thesis and could leave the shares undervalued after recent weakness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: DA Davidson reiterated a Buy rating and a $550 price target, signaling Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite near-term turbulence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Microsoft’s AI business remains constructive, with reports highlighting a large-scale AI revenue base and continued investor interest in the stock as an AI leader. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced about 4,800 layoffs, including roughly 3,200 roles tied to Xbox, as part of a broader reset of the gaming business and a cost-cutting restructuring. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say the Xbox division is underperforming, with weak margins and subscription results raising concerns that management is having to shrink a core consumer business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft also faces fresh securities-fraud class-action pressure tied to Copilot and Azure disclosures, adding legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.98.

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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