Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.

Key Points

• Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. trimmed its Microsoft stake by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, but still held 568,062 shares valued at about $274.7 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings beat expectations, reporting $4.27 EPS on $82.89 billion in revenue, while quarterly revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on MSFT despite some price-target cuts, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 568,062 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,816 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 2.4% of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $274,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% during 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 during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $441.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business's 50-day moving average is $403.52 and its 200-day moving average is $433.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 29,083 shares of company stock worth $12,710,152 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.

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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