St. Clair Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

St. Clair Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,344 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,503 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 5.0% of St. Clair Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. St. Clair Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft in the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 500.0% during the third 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 worth $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $385.10 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $402.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $414.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid 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%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus lowered its price target on Microsoft but kept a buy rating, still implying roughly 32% upside from current levels. Benzinga / The Fly report on Argus price target cut
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Microsoft’s AI and Azure buildout as a long-term driver, with one piece arguing that AI data centers are effectively “pre-sold,” suggesting strong demand for Microsoft’s infrastructure spending. Article on AI spending returns
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings showed the company beat expectations on both revenue and EPS, reinforcing that the core business remains healthy despite the stock’s weak price action.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox/gaming unit is facing restructuring under Asha Sharma, including layoffs and tough decisions about studio strategy, which adds uncertainty but could improve efficiency over time. FT article on Xbox changes
• Neutral Sentiment: The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a jobs-and-productivity task force, keeping Microsoft in the policy conversation around AI and labor, but with no immediate financial impact. Yahoo Finance report on Fed task force
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued notices about a securities fraud class action tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations, increasing headline risk and investor caution. PR Newswire lawsuit notice
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Starbucks is building internal AI to replace some Microsoft software underscore a broader threat: customers may use AI to reduce reliance on Microsoft’s enterprise products, which could pressure future software revenue. MarketBeat Starbucks AI cost-cutting article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI expansion is also drawing criticism over rising emissions and heavy capital spending, feeding worries that the company is paying more for growth while investors question the payback period. TechXplore emissions report

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $559.84.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).