Davidson Trust Co. Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Davidson Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,046 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,902 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 6.4% of Davidson Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $14,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $406.99 and a 200 day moving average of $418.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% 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 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank dropped their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.86.

About Microsoft

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).