Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Natural Investments LLC

Key Points

• Natural Investments LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft by 5.7% in Q4, owning 47,049 shares valued at $22,753,000 after selling 2,865 shares, with Microsoft representing about 5.7% of the firm's portfolio as its second-largest holding.
• Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares at $397.35 (raising his holdings to 83,905 shares), while EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares at $409.52, a roughly 8.2% reduction in her position.
• Microsoft beat quarterly estimates with $4.27 EPS (vs. $4.06) and $82.89B revenue (up 18.3% YoY), recently announced a $0.91 quarterly dividend, and carries a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $556.00.

Natural Investments LLC cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,049 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,865 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.7% of Natural Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Natural Investments LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. President Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $556.00.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $356.28 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day moving average is $395.28 and its 200-day moving average is $447.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during 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%.Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft moved Agent 365 out of preview to general availability, positioning itself as a leader in governance and security for enterprise AI agents — this improves MSFT's enterprise stickiness and could accelerate cloud/Copilot adoption. Microsoft takes Agent 365 out of preview
• Positive Sentiment: A small OpenClaw team is building "Project Lobster," an always-on assistant for knowledge workers inside Microsoft 365 — a product-led initiative that could expand Copilot-like monetization across Office workloads. Microsoft's OpenClaw team takes on the personal assistant challenge
• Positive Sentiment: Street support remains: Bernstein recently lifted its price objective and other analysts highlight large backlog growth and long-run upside, reinforcing a constructive view on MSFT's AI/cloud runway. Microsoft (MSFT): Most Promising AI Stock to Invest In
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner ecosystem traction: Microsoft is showing up in industry implementations (e.g., Medline’s Mpower supply‑chain solution built with Microsoft, and strong MSP adoption via Nerdio), which signals steady commercial demand but not immediate margin impact. Medline officially launches Mpower
• Negative Sentiment: Capital spending worries: analysts and commentators are flagging sharply higher AI capex (guidance for large GPU/infra spend and multiyear capex) and concerns about near-term capex ROI — a primary driver behind recent investor selling. Microsoft: Reasons To Be Concerned About Capex ROI
• Negative Sentiment: Post‑earnings weakness persists: the stock dropped after last week’s results as some investors parsed the spending outlook and backlog/momentum nuances, and commentators note the market reaction remains cautious. What can power Microsoft stock higher after earnings stumble?
• Negative Sentiment: Wider tech headwinds: hedge‑fund de‑risking of big tech and local data‑center/energy constraints (e.g., Denmark connection pauses) add macro and operational risk to MSFT’s hyperscale buildout. Hedge Funds Launch Biggest Tech Stock Pullback In Over 10 Years

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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