Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by New World Advisors LLC

New World Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 23.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,516 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,279 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 0.7% of New World Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $384.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $401.47 and its 200-day moving average is $412.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to view Microsoft as a high-quality AI and cloud name, with some arguing the stock looks cheaper after the recent decline.
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming earnings later this month could provide a catalyst if Azure growth and AI-related demand remain strong.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft remains a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure spending, but investors are waiting for clearer proof that those investments will translate into faster profit growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s 4,800-job reduction and Xbox restructuring suggest ongoing cost pressure and restructuring challenges.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities class-action alerts tied to alleged AI/Copilot disclosure issues are adding legal and reputational risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership and AI product execution are creating uncertainty around the company’s AI narrative.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

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).