Simplicity Wealth LLC Sells 6,814 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Simplicity Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,472 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,814 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.4% of Simplicity Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Simplicity Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BLVD Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant's stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore dropped their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $416.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $400.12 and a 200 day moving average of $435.60. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas sees significant upside potential for Microsoft, citing strong AI demand, more than 25 million expected paid Copilot seats, and Azure growth that could stay above 40%. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a large Microsoft position, which some investors view as a vote of confidence in the long-term AI thesis. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to argue Microsoft remains a strong long-term AI beneficiary, with some saying recent weakness may be creating an attractive entry point. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings beat was solid, but the stock has remained weak since the post-earnings sell-off, suggesting investors are focused more on forward guidance and AI spending than last quarter’s results. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also benefiting from broader AI ecosystem news, including new products and governance tools built around Microsoft Foundry, which supports the company’s enterprise AI platform narrative. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several pieces question whether Microsoft’s AI infrastructure spending is becoming too costly, with criticism centered on “compute” expenses and possible margin pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft was also the subject of a bearish Seeking Alpha note warning that its planned AI infrastructure spending could weigh on returns and valuation. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines highlight that major holders such as the Gates Foundation have exited Microsoft, adding to investor concern about shifting sentiment among large shareholders. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Company Profile

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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