Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Davidson Trust Co.

Key Points

• Davidson Trust Co. cut its Microsoft stake by 3.7%, selling 1,471 shares, but retained 38,598 shares valued at about $19.8 million. Microsoft remains the trust’s largest holding, representing 7.7% of its portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft shares. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, with an average price target of $609.54.
• Microsoft beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue rising 18.8% year over year, and increased its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share.

Davidson Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,598 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,471 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 7.7% of Davidson Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,000,706,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $440.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Griffin Securities cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.54.

Microsoft News Summary

Investors following MSFT have been watching these news items:

• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest quarterly results were strong: earnings per share and revenue exceeded estimates, with revenue up 18.8% year over year. That performance supports the longer-term growth case, although recent outage and competition headlines have drawn investor attention. Microsoft earnings and financial data
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.37, for a total value of $3,976,622.85. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 548,091 shares of the company's stock, valued at $298,364,297.67. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $523.88 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $559.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $519.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $441.85.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.00%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.

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