Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Trimmed by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,357 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,777 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 0.9% of GoalVest Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure backlog supports visibility. Microsoft’s commercial backlog reportedly reached approximately $678 billion, suggesting substantial future cloud revenue and helping the stock outperform during a broader technology-sector selloff. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand is strengthening Microsoft’s enterprise moat. Analysts and investors point to Azure, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the company’s broad enterprise ecosystem as advantages that could support continued AI monetization. Microsoft’s stock has gained about 28% over the past month, substantially outperforming the technology-sector ETF cited in the coverage. Most Investors Overlook MSFT’s AI Moat
• Positive Sentiment: Meta Platforms is becoming a major Microsoft customer. Meta’s growing reliance on Microsoft’s infrastructure for AI could increase Azure demand and provide additional validation of Microsoft’s cloud platform. Meta Platforms Is Now One of Microsoft’s Biggest Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Data-center expansion and partnerships add incremental support. Microsoft is expanding capacity to meet AI demand, while new customer, sports, and business partnerships reinforce its cloud and AI ecosystem. These developments are strategically favorable but are unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings on their own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical and momentum coverage remains favorable. Several reports describe MSFT as a top-ranked momentum or rebound candidate, but these are largely investment-screening and opinion-based articles rather than new fundamental announcements. MSFT, ORCL and INTC Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity is the principal concern. Coverage highlights sharply lower free cash flow as Microsoft invests heavily in AI infrastructure and data centers. The rally toward the $600 level may depend on whether the next earnings report shows that booked demand is converting into revenue quickly enough to offset margin and cash-flow pressure. What Would It Take to Get MSFT Stock Up to $600?
• Negative Sentiment: Short-interest data provides no useful signal. The reported figures show zero shares sold short both currently and previously, with a zero-day short-interest ratio, indicating a likely data-quality issue rather than a meaningful change in investor positioning.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the 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. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

Microsoft stock opened at $491.71 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $423.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $410.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. HSBC decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. CLSA reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.27.

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).