Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Cut by Davidson Trust Co.

Key Points

• Davidson Trust Co. trimmed its Microsoft stake by 6.8% in the first quarter, selling 2,902 shares. Microsoft remains its largest holding, accounting for about 6.4% of the portfolio.
• Microsoft continues to attract strong Wall Street support, with 41 analysts rating it a Buy and a consensus Moderate Buy rating. The average price target is $560.86, though recent target changes have been mixed.
• Recent company news centers on AI expansion: Microsoft launched a $2.5 billion “Frontier Company” to accelerate enterprise AI adoption and announced a five-year deal with Haleon. At the same time, the company is reportedly planning another round of layoffs and faces a securities fraud class action.

Davidson Trust Co. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,046 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,902 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 6.4% of Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Davidson Trust Co.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho reduced 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, Arete Research increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.86.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company' to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.6%

Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $406.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $418.05. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 firm 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%.The company's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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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