USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 59,639 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

USS Investment Management Ltd lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,834,520 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 59,639 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.9% of USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $679,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,452,610 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $537,713,000 after buying an additional 53,379 shares in the last quarter. DeLarme Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. DeLarme Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,962 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,997 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,850,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 66,734 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,703,000 after buying an additional 4,686 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $385.10 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $402.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $414.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month 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.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus lowered its price target on Microsoft but kept a buy rating, still implying roughly 32% upside from current levels. Benzinga / The Fly report on Argus price target cut
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Microsoft’s AI and Azure buildout as a long-term driver, with one piece arguing that AI data centers are effectively “pre-sold,” suggesting strong demand for Microsoft’s infrastructure spending. Article on AI spending returns
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings showed the company beat expectations on both revenue and EPS, reinforcing that the core business remains healthy despite the stock’s weak price action.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox/gaming unit is facing restructuring under Asha Sharma, including layoffs and tough decisions about studio strategy, which adds uncertainty but could improve efficiency over time. FT article on Xbox changes
• Neutral Sentiment: The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a jobs-and-productivity task force, keeping Microsoft in the policy conversation around AI and labor, but with no immediate financial impact. Yahoo Finance report on Fed task force
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued notices about a securities fraud class action tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations, increasing headline risk and investor caution. PR Newswire lawsuit notice
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Starbucks is building internal AI to replace some Microsoft software underscore a broader threat: customers may use AI to reduce reliance on Microsoft’s enterprise products, which could pressure future software revenue. MarketBeat Starbucks AI cost-cutting article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI expansion is also drawing criticism over rising emissions and heavy capital spending, feeding worries that the company is paying more for growth while investors question the payback period. TechXplore emissions report

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. President Capital raised their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

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).