Retirement Planning Group LLC Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Retirement Planning Group LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the second quarter, selling 1,179 shares and retaining 53,831 shares valued at about $20.08 million. Institutional investors own approximately 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue increased 17.7% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $569.29, supported by Microsoft’s Copilot and enterprise AI growth prospects, though major data-center investments and competitive pressures remain risks.

Retirement Planning Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,831 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,179 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.5% of Retirement Planning Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Retirement Planning Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.3% during the second quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 286,452 shares of the software giant's stock worth $106,852,000 after purchasing an additional 9,111 shares in the last quarter. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC now owns 18,452 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,883,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 33,820 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,616,000 after purchasing an additional 11,242 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 90,145 shares of the software giant's stock worth $33,626,000 after buying an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthStar Asset Management LLC NJ boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. NorthStar Asset Management LLC NJ now owns 7,913 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,952,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $480.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $427.02. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $569.29.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled a redesigned Copilot experience featuring integrated Office tools, Chat, Cowork and Autopilot capabilities. Jefferies said the products create potential usage-based revenue streams, while analysts expect enterprise adoption to build gradually. Microsoft's Autopilot opens new AI revenue path
• Positive Sentiment: The Copilot overhaul is positioned as a stronger competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude. Microsoft also added GitHub’s coding engine to Copilot, allowing office workers to create applications and dashboards using natural-language instructions, potentially expanding paid AI usage. Microsoft puts GitHub coding engine inside Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan reaffirmed its Buy rating, and William Blair maintained a bullish view based on Copilot monetization potential and Microsoft’s expanding enterprise AI platform. Azure’s reported scale and backlog also support the long-term investment case. Microsoft Buy rating backed by Copilot monetization
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is extending AI partnerships, including a Nokia collaboration that combines Nokia’s telecommunications data with Microsoft Fabric for AI-driven network operations. The opportunity could broaden cloud demand, although financial benefits are not yet quantified. Nokia and Microsoft expand their AI reach
• Neutral Sentiment: TTEC Digital’s 11th consecutive Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award highlights the strength of Microsoft’s partner ecosystem, but the recognition is not expected to materially affect near-term revenue. TTEC Digital earns Microsoft AI award
• Negative Sentiment: Reported AI usage shows a sizable regional gap—28.8% in the Global North versus 16.2% in the Global South—raising questions about the pace and breadth of Copilot adoption. Microsoft AI adoption gap
• Negative Sentiment: Meta is moving deeper into enterprise software, creating another competitive threat to Microsoft’s productivity, cloud and AI offerings. Meanwhile, additional layoffs and restructuring may reinforce concerns about execution and workforce disruption. Meta puts Microsoft on notice
• Negative Sentiment: Plans to more than triple data-center capacity by 2032 could support Azure growth but require enormous capital investment, increasing pressure to convert AI demand into cash flow and profits. Investor questions about AI subsidies and regulation add further uncertainty. Microsoft data center expansion

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Microsoft

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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