Judson Althoff Sells 15,500 Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Stock

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT traded down $19.21 on Tuesday, hitting $441.31. The company had a trading volume of 36,758,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,917,828. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $403.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $433.78. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday. They issued a “market outperform” rating for the company. New Street Research dropped their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Forty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled seven homegrown AI models, signaling it wants greater independence from OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering long-term AI costs.
• Positive Sentiment: The company showcased a new quantum chip at Build, highlighting progress in another potentially high-value frontier technology.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is gaining attention for AI-powered Windows PCs and new Surface hardware partnerships, which could support future device and software demand.
• Neutral Sentiment: New partnerships and integrations around Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Copilot, and healthcare AI continue to expand the company’s ecosystem, but the near-term financial impact is still unclear.
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are also facing pressure from profit-taking, valuation concerns, insider selling headlines, and uncertainty tied to Washington policy and AI regulation.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Company 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).