Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Decreased by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Sterling Capital Management cut its Microsoft stake by 23.5% in the first quarter, selling 125,879 shares and leaving it with 409,607 shares worth about $151.6 million.
• Microsoft has seen mixed insider activity, with EVP Takeshi Numoto and CEO Judson Althoff both recently selling shares, while insiders sold a total of $10.5 million worth over the last 90 days.
• Despite some near-term pressure on the stock and legal/valuation concerns, Microsoft is drawing support from its AI strategy, including a new $2.5 billion AI deployment business, and analysts still rate the stock a Moderate Buy overall.

Sterling Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 23.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 409,607 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 125,879 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 2.9% of Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $151,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2,332.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after acquiring an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $131,750,000 after acquiring an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI deployment business, Microsoft Frontier Company, backed by $2.5 billion and staffed with about 6,000 engineers and industry experts to help enterprises select, implement, and improve AI tools. Investors are viewing this as a way to accelerate Azure and Copilot adoption while monetizing the enterprise AI buildout. Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company with $2.5 billion commitment
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top AI and growth stock, while others said the market is rotating from semiconductors back toward software. That is helping sentiment around MSFT as investors look for higher-quality AI beneficiaries with recurring enterprise revenue. Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also reported to be overhauling Copilot to make its AI assistant more useful and easier to justify for customers. That could improve adoption, but it also underscores that AI products must now prove their value. Microsoft’s Copilot Reset Shows AI Tools Must Now Prove Their Worth
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a new undersea cable partnership with Lightstorm to expand India-Southeast Asia connectivity, plus a report that enterprise customers continue to adopt Microsoft’s AI and cloud services. These are strategically helpful, but not immediate catalysts. Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is still being held back by Microsoft’s weak recent stock performance, with articles noting its worst month in more than 25 years and renewed debate about whether the selloff is creating a buying opportunity. Microsoft Had Its Worst Month in More Than 25 Years. Should Investors Buy the Crash?
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing class-action securities litigation over alleged misrepresentations during the class period, which adds a legal overhang and may keep some investors cautious. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Other reports said Microsoft may cut thousands of jobs and that investors are questioning whether its massive AI capital spending can generate enough returns. That uncertainty is weighing on the stock despite the company’s strong long-term fundamentals. Microsoft eyes another wave of layoffs that could hit 5,000 workers next week

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $390.49 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $406.14 and a 200 day moving average of $417.46. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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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