Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Midwest Trust Co

Midwest Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 779,476 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,281 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.6% of Midwest Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Midwest Trust Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $288,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $555.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.70 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $398.21 and its 200 day moving average is $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend 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).