Tortoise Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Tortoise Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 36.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,558 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 3,735 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,546 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

MSFT opened at $501.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $510.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.05. The company has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The company's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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