Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

Key Points

• CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,967 shares and leaving it with 235,547 shares valued at about $113.9 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings were solid, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both above analyst expectations. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11, which annualizes to $3.64 and a yield of about 0.8%.

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 235,547 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,967 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.2% of CENTRAL TRUST Co's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Microsoft were worth $113,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business'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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm's fifty day moving average is $402.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $434.12.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Trending Headlines about 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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

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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