Towne Trust Company N.A Has $11.94 Million Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Towne Trust Company N.A reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,251 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,616 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.8% of Towne Trust Company N.A’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Towne Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the first quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 341,325 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $126,348,000 after buying an additional 1,609 shares during the last quarter. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the first quarter. Jim Saulnier & Associates LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 24.0% during the first quarter. Cannon Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,178 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Welch Financial Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.7% during the first quarter. Welch Financial Planning LLC now owns 2,209 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.9% during the first quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,096 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related 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 directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $502.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.86.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI deployment business, Microsoft Frontier Company, backed by $2.5 billion and staffed with about 6,000 engineers and industry experts to help enterprises select, implement, and improve AI tools. Investors are viewing this as a way to accelerate Azure and Copilot adoption while monetizing the enterprise AI buildout. Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company with $2.5 billion commitment
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top AI and growth stock, while others said the market is rotating from semiconductors back toward software. That is helping sentiment around MSFT as investors look for higher-quality AI beneficiaries with recurring enterprise revenue. Microsoft launches firm to help companies adopt AI with $2.5 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also reported to be overhauling Copilot to make its AI assistant more useful and easier to justify for customers. That could improve adoption, but it also underscores that AI products must now prove their value. Microsoft’s Copilot Reset Shows AI Tools Must Now Prove Their Worth
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a new undersea cable partnership with Lightstorm to expand India-Southeast Asia connectivity, plus a report that enterprise customers continue to adopt Microsoft’s AI and cloud services. These are strategically helpful, but not immediate catalysts. Microsoft partners with Singapore’s Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment is still being held back by Microsoft’s weak recent stock performance, with articles noting its worst month in more than 25 years and renewed debate about whether the selloff is creating a buying opportunity. Microsoft Had Its Worst Month in More Than 25 Years. Should Investors Buy the Crash?
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also facing class-action securities litigation over alleged misrepresentations during the class period, which adds a legal overhang and may keep some investors cautious. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC Urges Microsoft Corporation Investors to Act: Class Action Filed Alleging Investor Harm
• Negative Sentiment: Other reports said Microsoft may cut thousands of jobs and that investors are questioning whether its massive AI capital spending can generate enough returns. That uncertainty is weighing on the stock despite the company’s strong long-term fundamentals. Microsoft eyes another wave of layoffs that could hit 5,000 workers next week

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.49 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. 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 twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $406.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $417.46.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company 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 company’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid 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%.

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).