SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Sells 5,459 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• SBI Securities reduced its Microsoft position by 2.7%, selling 5,459 shares and retaining 198,704 shares valued at approximately $74.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with 42 Buy ratings and five Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $564.27. However, company insiders sold roughly $71.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,704 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,459 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.7% of SBI Securities Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. SBI Securities Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $74,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WT Wealth Management raised its holdings in Microsoft by 29.8% in the second quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 15,582 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,812,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578 shares in the last quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,957 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,698,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Spectrum Financial Alliance Ltd LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 17.2% in the second quarter. Spectrum Financial Alliance Ltd LLC now owns 929 shares of the software giant's stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc boosted its position in Microsoft by 27.2% in the second quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 13,123 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,895,000 after buying an additional 2,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Capital Management increased its holdings in Microsoft by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 23,877 shares of the software giant's stock worth $8,907,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $493.78 on Monday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $466.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. 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 announced its 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 company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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