Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Cut by Community Financial Services Group LLC

Community Financial Services Group LLC reduced its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,916 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,215 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.5% of Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Constitution Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 70,308 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $26,226,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. Perkins Coie Trust Co grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 66,346 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $24,748,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. AdviceOne Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Defender Capital LLC. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 28.4% during the second quarter. Defender Capital LLC. now owns 3,662 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN to bring its ALLAM Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The deal expands Azure’s enterprise AI reach in the Middle East and adds regional-language capabilities to Microsoft’s ecosystem. Microsoft Expands Middle East AI Footprint Through Long-Term HUMAIN Deal
• Positive Sentiment: China’s Moonshot AI is reportedly discussing revenue-sharing arrangements with Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet that could allow the cloud providers to host its Kimi K3 model. If completed, the arrangement could generate additional Azure consumption and provide access to a large pool of enterprise AI customers. China’s Moonshot in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, Google over K3 revenue sharing
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s roughly $678 billion commercial backlog and growing reliance on Azure for AI workloads—including demand from major customers such as Meta—continue to reinforce the long-term revenue outlook. Pershing Square’s decision to make Microsoft its largest AI holding also provides a favorable institutional signal. Microsoft Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Defies Tech Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its own Maia 300 AI chip, potentially reducing dependence on third-party GPUs and improving inference economics over time. However, custom silicon requires significant upfront investment, and the financial benefits remain unproven. OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Change the AI Hardware Race
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Microsoft’s AI capacity is converting into cash more slowly than expected. Fulfilling the backlog requires a historically large data-center buildout, while rising memory and server costs are increasing pressure on capital spending and near-term margins. Microsoft’s AI Capacity Is Selling – But Cash Conversion Is Lagging
• Negative Sentiment: Critics say Microsoft provides insufficient disclosure on AI revenue, costs and capital allocation, making it difficult to assess returns on its AI investments. A slightly hotter-than-expected core PCE reading also creates a broader valuation headwind for richly valued technology shares. Microsoft Is Leaving Investors Flying Blind on Its AI Businesses

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. China Renaissance lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Arete Research upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.27.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft 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 owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $496.37 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $553.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $425.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $411.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft 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).