Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota Buys Shares of 1,447 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sageworth Trust Co of South Dakota purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,447 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth 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, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its strategic partnership with Mistral AI to strengthen Europe-focused AI infrastructure and bring Mistral models deeper into Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms, reinforcing its long-term AI growth story. Reuters article on Microsoft funding Mistral’s European AI expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley turned constructive on Microsoft, saying sentiment on software stocks has become too negative and assigning MSFT an Overweight rating with a $600 price target. Investopedia article on Morgan Stanley software picks
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators say Microsoft could be undervalued heading into earnings, with several pieces arguing the stock may be a bargain if Azure growth and AI execution improve. TipRanks article on Microsoft as a bargain ahead of earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is scheduled to report fiscal Q4 results on July 29, and investors are focusing on Azure growth, AI spending, and Copilot adoption as the key questions for the call. Proactive Investors article on Microsoft earnings and Azure growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded AI deal with AMD also supports the bull case for Azure infrastructure, but it underscores that Microsoft is still spending heavily to secure future AI capacity rather than immediately harvesting profits. Proactive Investors article on Microsoft expanding AMD partnership
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued fresh class-action reminders tied to Microsoft’s alleged AI misstatements, keeping legal risk in the spotlight and adding pressure on sentiment. Pomerantz class-action alert for Microsoft investors
• Negative Sentiment: Headlines about a securities fraud lawsuit and allegations that Microsoft overstated Copilot functionality may weigh on the stock by reinforcing concerns around AI execution and disclosure. PR Newswire lawsuit notice on Microsoft Copilot functionality

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Citigroup upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market outperform” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. China Renaissance decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.37.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $399.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $409.57.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

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).