Triangle Securities Wealth Management Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Triangle Securities Wealth Management cut its Microsoft stake by 8.4% in the first quarter, selling 2,004 shares and leaving it with 21,920 shares valued at about $8.1 million.
• Microsoft recently reported strong quarterly results, posting $4.27 EPS on revenue of $82.89 billion, both above estimates, with revenue up 18.3% year over year.
• The company is leaning harder into enterprise AI, launching a $2.5 billion AI implementation business called Microsoft Frontier Company, while also facing some headwinds from planned layoffs, insider selling, and a securities fraud lawsuit.

Triangle Securities Wealth Management decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,920 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,004 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.8% of Triangle Securities Wealth Management's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Triangle Securities Wealth Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,262,509,000 after buying an additional 6,468,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant's stock worth $131,750,000 after buying an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $390.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $406.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.05.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Microsoft Frontier Company, a new $2.5 billion AI implementation business that will embed about 6,000 engineers, consultants and support specialists inside customer operations to speed enterprise AI adoption. Reuters: Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports and commentary said the new AI unit reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in enterprise AI and could drive more Azure and Copilot usage, helping explain the stock’s strength. GeekWire: Microsoft announces $2.5B ‘Frontier Company' to embed AI engineers inside customers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s enterprise AI momentum was also supported by a new five-year deal with Haleon to expand AI, cloud and data technology across the health company’s operations. MarketBeat: Meta’s AI Compute Push Could Turn Its Massive CapEx Bill Into a Competitive Weapon
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly preparing another round of layoffs, potentially affecting thousands of workers in sales, consulting and Xbox, as it keeps pouring money into AI infrastructure. This may help costs over time, but it also highlights ongoing restructuring and margin pressure. Reuters: Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment is also being weighed by a securities fraud class action and related deadline reminders, which add legal uncertainty to the name. PRNewswire: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Shareholders Who Lost Money Have Opportunity to Lead Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company 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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