Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Leeward Financial Partners LLC

Leeward Financial Partners LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 52,508 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,739 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 5.8% of Leeward Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Leeward Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pollock Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Haleon signed a new five-year collaboration with Microsoft to expand use of its AI, cloud, and data technologies, underscoring continued enterprise adoption of Microsoft’s AI stack. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A Jefferies CIO survey showed Azure widening its lead over AWS among U.S. CIOs, supporting the case that Microsoft’s cloud momentum remains intact. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with JMP Securities reaffirming an Outperform view after Copilot Cowork’s launch and other coverage pointing to Microsoft’s AI growth potential. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is still drawing investor attention as a long-term AI winner, but several commentary pieces argue the stock is also under pressure from higher valuation scrutiny and broad Magnificent 7 weakness. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may cut thousands of jobs, including in Xbox, sales, and consulting, are fueling concern that heavy AI spending is pressuring margins and forcing cost reductions. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor class-action notices tied to alleged Copilot/Azure misrepresentations are adding legal overhang and keeping sentiment cautious around MSFT. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $525.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was 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 owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 3.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $384.28 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $407.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $418.67.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $82.89 billion for 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%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

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).