TD Asset Management Inc Trims Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• TD Asset Management cut its Microsoft stake by 22.9% in the second quarter, selling 2.01 million shares and retaining 6.75 million shares worth approximately $2.52 billion. Institutional investors still own about 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish: 43 analysts rate Microsoft a Buy, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $570.62. The company also surpassed quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, equivalent to a 0.8% annual yield, while insiders sold roughly $71.4 million of stock over the past 90 days.

TD Asset Management Inc cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 22.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,747,748 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,007,411 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.2% of TD Asset Management Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. TD Asset Management Inc owned about 0.09% of Microsoft worth $2,517,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Microsoft by 30.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after acquiring an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after acquiring an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,715,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,412 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MSFT. CLSA reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $570.62.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $512.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The company's 50-day moving average price is $484.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $428.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

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

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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