Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Decker Retirement Planning Inc.

Key Points

• Decker Retirement Planning cut its Microsoft stake by 37.2% in the second quarter, selling 2,550 shares and retaining 4,298 shares valued at approximately $1.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, surpassing analyst estimates; revenue increased 17.7% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Microsoft shares opened at $499.70, while analysts maintained a generally positive outlook with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27. Recent insider activity was net negative, with executives selling shares over the past three months.

Decker Retirement Planning Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 37.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,298 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,550 shares during the quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,603,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after purchasing an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $499.70 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $444.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 105,835 shares of company stock worth $52,468,575. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s decision to disclose Azure revenue separately beginning in fiscal 2027 is improving visibility into its cloud business. Azure generated $29.4 billion in quarterly revenue and $101.9 billion for fiscal 2026, while the company’s remaining performance obligations reached $678 billion. The clearer reporting may help investors assess Microsoft’s position against Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft Finally Reveals Azure’s Core
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel raised its Microsoft price target to $530, citing improving Copilot adoption and artificial-intelligence momentum. OpenAI’s launch of GPT-6 Astra could also benefit Microsoft because Azure customers are reportedly already using the model, strengthening the strategic value of Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship. Stifel raises Microsoft price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reorganizing its reporting structure around “Devices and Consumer” and “Agents and Infra.” The change could make AI economics easier to evaluate, but it may also increase scrutiny of spending and margins once the new disclosures begin.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Capital expenditures reached about $41 billion in the latest quarter, cloud gross margin reportedly fell to roughly 65% from 67%, and the company plans to continue adding data centers and AI capacity. The risk is that depreciation, power and chip costs could delay returns on the large backlog. Microsoft faces pressure despite cloud and AI growth
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares worth approximately $43.4 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its value as a business signal, but the transaction can still add short-term sentiment pressure after the stock’s run-up. Satya Nadella sells Microsoft stock
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is limiting Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming to 15 hours per month for some subscribers as infrastructure costs rise. The move may improve service economics, but it risks frustrating users and weakening Microsoft’s consumer-gaming proposition. Microsoft limits Xbox cloud gaming

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

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).

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