Fulton Bank N.A. Sells 3,087 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Fulton Bank N.A. lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,955 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,087 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.3% of Fulton Bank N.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $42,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Markel Group Inc. increased its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after buying an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 138.8% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN to bring its ALLAM Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The deal expands Azure’s enterprise AI reach in the Middle East and adds regional-language capabilities to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft Expands Middle East AI Footprint Through Long-Term HUMAIN Deal
• Positive Sentiment: China’s Moonshot AI is reportedly discussing revenue-sharing arrangements with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet that could allow the cloud providers to host its Kimi K3 model. If completed, the arrangement could generate additional Azure consumption and provide access to a large pool of enterprise AI customers. China’s Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s roughly $678 billion commercial backlog and growing reliance on Azure for AI workloads—including demand from major customers such as Meta—continue to reinforce the long-term revenue outlook. Pershing Square’s decision to make Microsoft its largest AI holding also provides a favorable institutional signal. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its own Maia 300 AI chip, potentially reducing dependence on third-party GPUs and improving inference economics over time. However, custom silicon requires significant upfront investment, and the financial benefits remain unproven. OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Change the AI Hardware Race
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI capacity is converting into cash more slowly than expected. Fulfilling the backlog requires a historically large data-center buildout, while rising memory and server costs are increasing pressure on capital spending and near-term margins. Microsoft’s AI Capacity Is Selling – But Cash Conversion Is Lagging
• Negative Sentiment: Critics say Microsoft provides insufficient disclosure on AI revenue, costs and capital allocation, making it difficult to assess returns on its AI investments. A slightly hotter-than-expected core PCE reading also creates a broader valuation headwind for richly valued technology shares. Microsoft Is Leaving Investors Flying Blind on Its AI Businesses

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Phillip Securities cut Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.27.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $496.37 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $425.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.00. 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 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.58 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

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).