Triple Frond Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Triple Frond Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 352,504 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 32,674 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 17.7% of Triple Frond Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Triple Frond Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $170,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $50,664,631,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Weiss Ratings cut Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. New Street Research dropped their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $411.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.95. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 is currently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

Microsoft 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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