Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Trimmed by Polen Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Polen Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in Microsoft by 7.3%, decreasing its ownership to about 5.94 million shares, which constitutes approximately 7.0% of its portfolio.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Microsoft, with GAMMA Investing LLC growing its position by 40,290.4% to over 46.6 million shares recently valued at around $17.5 billion.
• Equities analysts have raised Microsoft’s price targets significantly, with one analysts setting a target at $675 per share, reflecting a general consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Polen Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,941,106 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 469,776 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 7.0% of Polen Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Polen Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Microsoft worth $2,230,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $17,528,950,000 after purchasing an additional 46,579,693 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $288,336,224,000 after buying an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,035,987,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $498.20 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $509.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The business had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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