Private Trust Co. NA Trims Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Private Trust Co. NA decreased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 73,694 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,475 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $35,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $562.69.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4%

Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $396.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

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).