Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA

Key Points

• Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA trimmed its Microsoft stake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, but still held 1.84 million shares valued at about $884.9 million. Microsoft remains its second-largest position and makes up 7.9% of the firm’s holdings.
• Microsoft continues to draw strong institutional and analyst support, with several funds adding shares and analysts maintaining mostly bullish ratings. The consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $560.88.
• The company’s fundamentals remain solid, as its latest quarter beat expectations with $4.27 EPS and $82.89 billion in revenue, while it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share. However, some headlines note potential pressure from intensifying AI competition and higher infrastructure spending.

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,841,271 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 10,486 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.9% of Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $884,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IRON Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 23.2% during the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant's stock worth $493,860,000 after buying an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted 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 buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The OpenAI lawsuit defeat for Elon Musk clears a major legal overhang and is seen as helping Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and partner exposure. Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed a new, large Microsoft stake, reinforcing the view that some major investors see MSFT as undervalued relative to its AI growth prospects. MSFT Stock Alert: What to Know as Bill Ackman Adds Microsoft Position
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators highlighted Microsoft as a beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption, with Azure and Copilot demand still driving the long-term growth story. Microsoft Rides on Enterprise AI Advancements: More Upside Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several fund updates showed mixed institutional activity, including notable purchases and trims, which points to continued debate over Microsoft’s near-term valuation rather than a clear change in fundamentals. Pershing Square boosts Microsoft stake with 5.65M shares
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines flagged potential pressure points, including worries that GitHub AI competition is intensifying and that higher AI infrastructure spending could weigh on margins. Microsoft (MSFT) Faces GitHub AI Crisis as OpenAI’s Codex and Rivals Catch Up

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $423.54 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $398.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $439.92. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. 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. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 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, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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