Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Judson Althoff Sells 15,500 Shares

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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 value 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. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Microsoft Stock Down 4.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $441.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $403.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. President Capital lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Forty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.20.

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).