Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Sold by VeraBank N.A.

Key Points

• VeraBank N.A. reduced its Microsoft stake by 6.6% in the second quarter, selling 2,395 shares and retaining 33,962 shares valued at approximately $12.7 million.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of Microsoft, while insiders sold approximately $71.4 million worth of shares over the past 90 days.
• Microsoft maintains a bullish analyst outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $571.18 price target; Azure and AI demand remain key growth catalysts, though high AI spending and valuation are notable risks.

VeraBank N.A. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,962 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,395 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.1% of VeraBank N.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. VeraBank N.A.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $571.18.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.53 on Monday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $490.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $430.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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