Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 46.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,519 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 46,441 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.0% of Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 8.4% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,616,000. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Trending Headlines about Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly crossed a significant revenue milestone, while its large backlog points to continued demand for cloud and AI services. This is strengthening the long-term bull case and fueling speculation that the stock could approach $600. Microsoft Stock Is Building a Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia are described as major beneficiaries of a potential $7 trillion AI infrastructure buildout. Rising data-center construction and demand for computing capacity could support sustained growth across Azure, software, and AI products. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom
- Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary continues to favor Microsoft as a long-term holding because of its diversified software ecosystem, recurring revenue, cloud position, and favorable earnings outlook. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth and earnings well above expectations. Why Microsoft Is a Top Stock for the Long-Term
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s partnerships and investments in Gulf data-center infrastructure highlight its efforts to expand global AI capacity. Separately, company representatives said AI could create new employment opportunities rather than only eliminate jobs, supporting broader adoption narratives. Microsoft and Schneider Electric Bet Big on the Gulf
- Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on a key cash-flow line item, likely reflecting the impact of elevated AI-related capital expenditures. Strong investment may expand future growth but could constrain free cash flow and delay a breakout to a new high. Microsoft Is Close to a New All-Time High
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, Project Helix, could face a pricing challenge if advanced hardware pushes the console toward $1,000. A high price could limit adoption and pressure the gaming business, although Microsoft is considering affordability measures. Microsoft Has a $1,000 Problem With Its Next Xbox
- Negative Sentiment: Recent Outlook and Exchange Online outages, alongside a separate ChatGPT Work disruption, raise concerns about reliability for Microsoft’s productivity and cloud services. The incidents have not materially undermined reported results but remain a reputational and retention risk. Microsoft’s Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work Both Broke the Same Day
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 105,835 shares of company stock valued at $52,468,575 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Price Performance
NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $499.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $447.15 and a 200 day moving average of $416.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.
View Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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