Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Cut by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 627,951 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 35,415 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.0% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $232,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

MSFT opened at $389.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $397.52 and its 200-day moving average is $406.99. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their target price on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup raised Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $554.73.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched Project Perception, an agentic security platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered cyberattacks in real time. The company also introduced its first in-house cybersecurity model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s position in the growing enterprise cybersecurity market and create additional demand for Azure and security software. Microsoft launches its first cybersecurity model and a new agentic cybersecurity system
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to report healthy Azure and broader cloud demand, with AI demand reportedly exceeding available capacity. UBS maintained a Buy rating, while Guggenheim reaffirmed its Buy rating with a $586 price target. Consensus expectations for Wednesday call for approximately $87.42 billion in revenue and $4.21 in earnings per share. Microsoft faces AI capex scrutiny as it prepares to report Q4 results
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded partnership with Mistral and its work on custom chips support the company’s strategy of making Azure a leading platform for enterprise AI workloads. Investors view continued AI adoption and cloud monetization as potential catalysts for the earnings report.
• Neutral Sentiment: The immediate focus is Microsoft’s planned roughly $190 billion in annual capital spending, a reported 61% increase. The investment could support long-term Azure growth, but the market wants evidence that cloud revenue and AI demand are growing fast enough to justify the cost. Options markets imply a potentially large post-earnings move of about 7.24%. Microsoft Plans $190 Billion of Capital Spending This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Investors have recently been less willing to reward strong technology earnings because of concerns about AI spending returns, heavy debt issuance across the AI ecosystem, and margin pressure. Microsoft’s elevated spending could therefore weigh on the stock if Azure growth or forward guidance disappoints.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized securities class-action lawsuits alleging investor harm and misleading disclosures related to Microsoft’s Copilot positioning, data silos, and interoperability. The claims are an overhang, although their near-term financial impact is uncertain. Microsoft investor class-action announcement

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).