Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Phillips Financial Management LLC

Key Points

• Phillips Financial Management LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 14.3% in the second quarter, selling 1,126 shares and retaining 6,759 shares valued at approximately $2.52 million.
• Other institutional investors generally increased their holdings, while hedge funds and institutions collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft’s stock.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $569.29, supported by strong earnings growth and potential Copilot monetization despite AI adoption and capital-spending concerns.

Phillips Financial Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,759 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,126 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.2% of Phillips Financial Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Phillips Financial Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Compound Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Compound Global Advisors LLC now owns 601 shares of the software giant's stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.6% in the second quarter. Next Capital Management LLC now owns 6,140 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 164.3% during the 2nd quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC now owns 54,897 shares of the software giant's stock worth $20,478,000 after purchasing an additional 34,129 shares in the last quarter. Stack Financial Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Stack Financial Management Inc now owns 187,635 shares of the software giant's stock worth $69,991,000 after purchasing an additional 2,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daniel Investment Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $634,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft's Autopilot opens new AI revenue path
• Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach
• Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award
• Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $569.29.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $480.07 and a 200-day moving average of $427.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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