Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Trimmed by Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE

Key Points

• Smithbridge Asset Management cut its Microsoft stake by 36.7% in the first quarter, selling 34,204 shares and leaving it with 58,999 shares worth about $21.84 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both topping Wall Street estimates and showing 18.3% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive, with 41 Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $559.84.

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 36.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,999 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 34,204 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.2% of Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE's holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $390.99 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. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $401.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $413.41. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles highlighted Microsoft’s AI strategy as a growth driver, including comments from CEO Satya Nadella about “the next massive AI trade” and enterprise customers integrating more partner AI tools into Microsoft’s ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive ahead of Microsoft’s late-July earnings report, with bullish notes pointing to strong Azure growth, large commercial backlog, and expectations that AI spending can support longer-term revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups argued Microsoft may be undervalued after this year’s pullback, with some firms seeing meaningful upside if the company converts AI and Azure demand into earnings growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw long-term investor support from institutional buying, government contract wins, and favorable analyst ratings, which helps reinforce confidence but is not a fresh catalyst by itself. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are also being weighed by class-action lawsuit headlines tied to alleged Copilot-related misrepresentations and securities fraud claims, which add legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern also remains centered on Microsoft’s heavy AI capital spending and environmental impact, with some commentary questioning whether rising capex and emissions can eventually pressure margins or sentiment. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $502.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.84.

About Microsoft

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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