Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC cut its Microsoft stake by 15.8% in the second quarter, selling 10,186 shares and retaining 54,215 shares valued at approximately $20.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 43 analysts rate Microsoft a Buy, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $570.62. The company also exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, or $3.92 annually, while executives sold shares totaling roughly $71.4 million during the last quarter. Investors continue to weigh strong cloud and Copilot growth against heavy AI infrastructure spending.

Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 15.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,215 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 10,186 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.5% of Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant's stock worth $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.62.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $512.90 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $484.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.53. The company has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. 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 Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors 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 of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler raised its price target to $610 from $550 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing improving estimates for Microsoft’s commercial cloud business and potential revenue from the new E7 enterprise licensing tier. Why is Microsoft stock up on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s revamped Copilot is becoming more enterprise-focused, while usage-based billing expected to begin in November could simplify adoption and improve monetization. Analysts also see potential for paid Copilot seats to continue expanding rapidly. What a Revamped Copilot Means for Microsoft Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is bringing OpenAI’s autonomous “Dots” agents into its enterprise security and governance framework, strengthening its position in workplace AI. A long-term Xbox publishing agreement with Take-Two also supports the gaming ecosystem. Microsoft Brings OpenAI’s Autonomous Dots AI Workers Into the Enterprise
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft has delivered a substantial quarterly rally, but its valuation remains below its recent average P/E despite strong Azure growth, expanding Copilot demand and a sizable commercial backlog. This leaves room for additional upside, although expectations are already elevated. How Much Upside Is Left In Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that surging AI infrastructure spending could outpace free cash flow before Azure and Copilot returns fully materialize. Microsoft also warns that AI agents may weaken traditional software pricing power and customer loyalty. The AI Revolution Could Be Microsoft’s Next Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

Microsoft 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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