Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Focus Financial Network Inc.

Focus Financial Network Inc. lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,635 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,691 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 0.7% of Focus Financial Network Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Focus Financial Network Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. China Renaissance decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, President Capital raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure backlog supports visibility. Microsoft’s commercial backlog reportedly reached approximately $678 billion, suggesting substantial future cloud revenue and helping the stock outperform during a broader technology-sector selloff. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand is strengthening Microsoft’s enterprise moat. Analysts and investors point to Azure, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the company’s broad enterprise ecosystem as advantages that could support continued AI monetization. Microsoft’s stock has gained about 28% over the past month, substantially outperforming the technology-sector ETF cited in the coverage. Most Investors Overlook MSFT’s AI Moat
• Positive Sentiment: Meta Platforms is becoming a major Microsoft customer. Meta’s growing reliance on Microsoft’s infrastructure for AI could increase Azure demand and provide additional validation of Microsoft’s cloud platform. Meta Platforms Is Now One of Microsoft’s Biggest Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Data-center expansion and partnerships add incremental support. Microsoft is expanding capacity to meet AI demand, while new customer, sports, and business partnerships reinforce its cloud and AI ecosystem. These developments are strategically favorable but are unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings on their own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical and momentum coverage remains favorable. Several reports describe MSFT as a top-ranked momentum or rebound candidate, but these are largely investment-screening and opinion-based articles rather than new fundamental announcements. MSFT, ORCL and INTC Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity is the principal concern. Coverage highlights sharply lower free cash flow as Microsoft invests heavily in AI infrastructure and data centers. The rally toward the $600 level may depend on whether the next earnings report shows that booked demand is converting into revenue quickly enough to offset margin and cash-flow pressure. What Would It Take to Get MSFT Stock Up to $600?
• Negative Sentiment: Short-interest data provides no useful signal. The reported figures show zero shares sold short both currently and previously, with a zero-day short-interest ratio, indicating a likely data-quality issue rather than a meaningful change in investor positioning.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

MSFT opened at $491.71 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $423.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Microsoft Company 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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