Latitude Advisors LLC Sells 1,289 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Latitude Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,032 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,289 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.0% of Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2,332.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Microsoft by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $131,750,000 after purchasing an additional 49,371 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report, with several firms still rating the stock Buy/Outperform even after trimming price targets. Microsoft Earnings Preview: Copilot, AI Spending and Margins Are in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is being viewed as a top AI vendor, and Citi highlighted it as one of the leading players in the space, reinforcing the company’s AI leadership narrative. Citi Finds Microsoft (MSFT) as One of the Top AI Vendors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with 3M to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation, a sign of continued demand for its cloud and AI ecosystem. 3M and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s push to emphasize Microsoft’s in-house AI models and lower-cost enterprise offerings suggests a more aggressive competitive strategy versus OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target for the company. Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $557.96.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $401.10 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $400.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $411.43. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).