Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Lessened by Seilern Investment Management Ltd

Seilern Investment Management Ltd lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 19.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 92,232 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,895 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 5.9% of Seilern Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Seilern Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $47,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Montgomery Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth $26,000. Frankly Finances LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Investors following MSFT have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported improving availability and said Outlook email queues were approaching normal levels, easing some immediate concern about the disruption. One analyst reiterated a Buy rating and a $630 price target, citing Azure growth of 48% and expected growth of 49%–50% in fiscal Q2. Microsoft outage recovery update Analyst Buy rating and price target
• Negative Sentiment: A prolonged global outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other services across more than 70 countries, affecting businesses and public agencies. Even as service recovered, the incident raised questions about Microsoft’s reliability and customers’ dependence on its cloud infrastructure. Inside Microsoft’s response to the global outage
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is also weighing on sentiment: Anthropic’s new workplace tools threaten Microsoft 365 and Copilot, while Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure spending raises questions about returns on investment. Competition concerns around Microsoft

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at $265,888,830.48. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $531.00, for a total value of $2,655,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 54,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,892,772. This trade represents a 8.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 147,809 shares of company stock valued at $74,769,646 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $700.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Griffin Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $610.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.54.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $523.88. 26,130,357 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,173,096. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $559.15. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $519.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $441.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.05.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software giant reported $4.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.17. Microsoft had a net margin of 41.17% and a return on equity of 31.28%. The business had revenue of $92.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.13 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 19.00%.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, and digital solutions for consumers, businesses, and public-sector organizations. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Azure cloud computing, LinkedIn, GitHub, Surface devices, and Xbox gaming products and services. Microsoft also provides business software, cybersecurity tools, and artificial intelligence technologies.