Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Riverbridge Partners LLC

Riverbridge Partners LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 413,524 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 46,282 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.3% of Riverbridge Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $154,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

MSFT opened at $507.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $433.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $413.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 21,810 shares of company stock worth $10,110,874 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN expanded their strategic partnership, introducing enterprise AI offerings and an AI-enabled PC. The agreement supports Microsoft’s effort to expand Azure and Copilot-related AI adoption internationally. Microsoft and HUMAIN Expand Strategic Collaboration at LEAP 2026 with New Enterprise AI Offering and AI PC
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs expects elevated AI capital spending to continue into 2027. Sustained demand for cloud computing, data-center capacity and AI infrastructure could benefit Microsoft’s Azure business, although it also implies significant ongoing investment. Here comes the AI capex shocker, Goldman Sachs says
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with Citizens analyst Patrick Walravens anticipating that Microsoft could retest its record high over the next 12 months. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate, reinforcing the bullish view on earnings growth. Wall Street analyst sets Microsoft stock price target for next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to announce its annual dividend increase in September. Its last six increases were between 9% and 11%, but the size of the upcoming raise remains uncertain; the news offers income support rather than an immediate earnings catalyst. Microsoft Has Raised Its Dividend Every Year for More Than a Decade
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft Outlook experienced an outage that disrupted email access, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work reported elevated errors and latency. Although likely temporary, the incidents raise concerns about service reliability across productivity and AI products. Microsoft Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work are experiencing user outages
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also focused on the power, water and electricity demands associated with Microsoft’s expanding data-center footprint. Infrastructure bottlenecks and rising AI-related capital requirements could pressure margins and increase execution risk. Microsoft Stock Slips as Its Magic Word for Data Centers Emerges
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft acknowledged that a Windows 11 update can cause broken mouse cursors and black desktop wallpapers. The issue is unlikely to materially affect financial results, but it adds to near-term product-reliability concerns. Microsoft Admits Windows 11 Update Breaks Mouse Cursors

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.27.

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).