Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Trimmed by Intrust Bank NA

Key Points

• Intrust Bank NA reduced its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the second quarter, selling 1,495 shares and retaining 69,769 shares valued at approximately $26.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings and revenue above expectations, with revenue rising 17.7% year over year. Analysts remain broadly bullish, assigning the stock a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $571.18, while Azure and AI demand remain key growth catalysts.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, up from $0.91, implying an annualized dividend of $3.92 and a yield of approximately 0.8%. Executives have also sold shares, including $71.4 million of insider sales over the past three months.

Intrust Bank NA trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,769 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,495 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.9% of Intrust Bank NA's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Intrust Bank NA's holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,235,785,000 after acquiring an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,715,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599,412 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $571.18.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $517.53 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $490.08 and its 200 day moving average is $429.97. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

About Microsoft

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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