TCW Group Inc. Lowers Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• TCW Group cut its Microsoft position by 24.9% in the second quarter, selling 371,862 shares and retaining 1.12 million shares valued at approximately $419.1 million. Microsoft remains TCW’s fifth-largest holding and represents 2.8% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, beating analyst expectations and marking 17.7% year-over-year revenue growth. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, an annualized yield of about 0.8%.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive, with 43 analysts rating the stock a Buy and a consensus price target of $569.29 versus its reported price of $509.22. However, Microsoft insiders sold more than 143,000 shares worth $71.4 million over the last quarter.

TCW Group Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 24.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,123,627 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 371,862 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.8% of TCW Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. TCW Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $419,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FWG Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 8,368 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% during the first quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Sequent Planning LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,052,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Investment Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. American Investment Services Inc. now owns 876 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $509.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $480.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $427.02. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total transaction of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,888,830.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about 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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price objective on Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Argus cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $569.29.

Microsoft Company 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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