Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,224 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,823 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.2% of Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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: DA Davidson reiterated a Buy rating and a $550 price target on Microsoft, suggesting meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports said Azure cloud growth remains strong and Microsoft’s AI business is still expanding, with analysts highlighting cloud share gains and AI monetization as key drivers for a future rebound. Blockonomi article
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish pieces argued Microsoft may be one of the most mispriced AI stocks, pointing to its large OpenAI stake, strong enterprise demand, and the potential for Copilot and “orchestration” tools to become more lucrative over time. Barron’s article
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention for a new AI-focused business unit and for merging its consumer and enterprise Copilot apps, which could improve product clarity but is still in the execution phase. Motley Fool article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft said it is cutting about 4,800 jobs globally, with roughly 3,200 roles hit in Xbox, signaling a broad restructuring and raising concerns about weaker gaming economics. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also reacting to a securities fraud class action tied to alleged Copilot and Azure disclosure issues, adding legal overhang after prior stock weakness. PR Newswire article

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT traded up $5.43 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $392.17. The company had a trading volume of 4,549,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,726,043. 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 $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $406.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $417.46.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Forty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).