Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Howland Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Howland Capital Management trimmed its Microsoft stake by 1.6%, selling 4,381 shares and retaining 274,435 shares valued at approximately $102.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with revenue rising 17.7% year over year to $90.01 billion and EPS of $4.74, exceeding analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $560.27.
• Microsoft’s AI expansion and Azure demand remain positive catalysts, but investors are monitoring heavy data-center infrastructure costs and service outages. Company insiders also sold 21,810 shares worth about $10.1 million during the quarter.

Howland Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 274,435 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,381 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.7% of Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $102,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased 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 worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business'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 of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,810 shares of company stock valued at $10,110,874. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN expanded their strategic partnership, introducing enterprise AI offerings and an AI-enabled PC. The agreement supports Microsoft’s effort to expand Azure and Copilot-related AI adoption internationally. Microsoft and HUMAIN Expand Strategic Collaboration at LEAP 2026 with New Enterprise AI Offering and AI PC
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs expects elevated AI capital spending to continue into 2027. Sustained demand for cloud computing, data-center capacity and AI infrastructure could benefit Microsoft’s Azure business, although it also implies significant ongoing investment. Here comes the AI capex shocker, Goldman Sachs says
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with Citizens analyst Patrick Walravens anticipating that Microsoft could retest its record high over the next 12 months. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate, reinforcing the bullish view on earnings growth. Wall Street analyst sets Microsoft stock price target for next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to announce its annual dividend increase in September. Its last six increases were between 9% and 11%, but the size of the upcoming raise remains uncertain; the news offers income support rather than an immediate earnings catalyst. Microsoft Has Raised Its Dividend Every Year for More Than a Decade
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft Outlook experienced an outage that disrupted email access, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work reported elevated errors and latency. Although likely temporary, the incidents raise concerns about service reliability across productivity and AI products. Microsoft Outlook and OpenAI's ChatGPT Work are experiencing user outages
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also focused on the power, water and electricity demands associated with Microsoft’s expanding data-center footprint. Infrastructure bottlenecks and rising AI-related capital requirements could pressure margins and increase execution risk. Microsoft Stock Slips as Its Magic Word for Data Centers Emerges
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft acknowledged that a Windows 11 update can cause broken mouse cursors and black desktop wallpapers. The issue is unlikely to materially affect financial results, but it adds to near-term product-reliability concerns. Microsoft Admits Windows 11 Update Breaks Mouse Cursors

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $507.29 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $433.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $413.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore set a $528.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. China Renaissance reduced 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. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.27.

Microsoft 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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