Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Tradewinds LLC.

Tradewinds LLC. decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,127 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,394 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.0% of Tradewinds LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $13,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted 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 fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,750,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Overbrook Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 87,535 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $42,334,000 after purchasing an additional 2,384 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.9%

MSFT stock opened at $389.10 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $397.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $406.99. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 21.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 20th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $646.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. CLSA began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $535.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $554.73.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Project Perception, an agentic security platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered cyberattacks in real time. The company also introduced its first in-house cybersecurity model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s position in the growing enterprise cybersecurity market and create additional demand for Azure and security software. Microsoft launches its first cybersecurity model and a new agentic cybersecurity system
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to report healthy Azure and broader cloud demand, with AI demand reportedly exceeding available capacity. UBS maintained a Buy rating, while Guggenheim reaffirmed its Buy rating with a $586 price target. Consensus expectations for Wednesday call for approximately $87.42 billion in revenue and $4.21 in earnings per share. Microsoft faces AI capex scrutiny as it prepares to report Q4 results
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded partnership with Mistral and its work on custom chips support the company’s strategy of making Azure a leading platform for enterprise AI workloads. Investors view continued AI adoption and cloud monetization as potential catalysts for the earnings report.
• Neutral Sentiment: The immediate focus is Microsoft’s planned roughly $190 billion in annual capital spending, a reported 61% increase. The investment could support long-term Azure growth, but the market wants evidence that cloud revenue and AI demand are growing fast enough to justify the cost. Options markets imply a potentially large post-earnings move of about 7.24%. Microsoft Plans $190 Billion of Capital Spending This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Investors have recently been less willing to reward strong technology earnings because of concerns about AI spending returns, heavy debt issuance across the AI ecosystem, and margin pressure. Microsoft’s elevated spending could therefore weigh on the stock if Azure growth or forward guidance disappoints.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized securities class-action lawsuits alleging investor harm and misleading disclosures related to Microsoft’s Copilot positioning, data silos, and interoperability. The claims are an overhang, although their near-term financial impact is uncertain. Microsoft investor class-action announcement

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).