Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Contravisory Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Contravisory Investment Management cut its Microsoft stake by 12% in the first quarter, selling 1,955 shares and ending with 14,372 shares valued at about $5.32 million.
• Microsoft is leaning harder into enterprise AI, launching a $2.5 billion “Frontier Company” to help customers adopt AI and supporting that push with a new five-year deal with Haleon.
• The stock remains broadly supported by Wall Street and fundamentals: analysts rate it a Moderate Buy, Microsoft beat quarterly earnings estimates, and it recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.91 per share.

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,372 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,955 shares during the quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company' to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. China Renaissance dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Dbs Bank cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 target price for the company. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.86.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $406.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $418.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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).

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.