6,291 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Rational Advisors Inc.

Rational Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 56.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,806 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,291 shares during the quarter. Rational Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 139.6% during the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 65,940 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,597,000 after buying an additional 38,419 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,023 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,604,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 119,765 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $44,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 74,824 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $27,911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,587 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 296,267 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $110,514,000 after acquiring an additional 4,452 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. William Blair began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $592.15.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $531.87 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $506.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $443.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total transaction of $3,984,293.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism and earnings expectations: BMO Capital raised its Microsoft price target to $600 while maintaining an Outperform rating, citing potential upside for Azure. Bernstein also reiterated Outperform and lifted its target to $662. Analysts expect Microsoft’s Oct. 28 results to benefit from Azure demand and expanding enterprise AI adoption. Boeing and Microsoft AI platform article
• Positive Sentiment: AI and cloud growth remain the core bull case: Commentary points to robust Azure infrastructure demand, commercial customer commitments and Microsoft’s ability to monetize AI across enterprise markets. Its new Maia AI chips could eventually reduce reliance on outside processors and lower inference costs, although execution remains important. Microsoft Q1 outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Xbox and industry partnerships: Microsoft plans next-generation Xbox consoles and handheld devices for the 2027–2028 holiday seasons. Separately, its partnership with AMD is intended to improve Xbox performance, while Boeing’s new Dataliner aircraft-data platform uses Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and could support enterprise cloud adoption. Next-generation Xbox article
• Neutral Sentiment: Tokenized-stock objection: Microsoft joined Alphabet and Goldman Sachs in objecting to having its shares listed on a proposed OKX-ICE tokenized-stock platform. The move may limit potential trading exposure but does not directly affect operating results. Tokenized stocks article
• Negative Sentiment: U.K. AI data-center withdrawal: Microsoft withdrew as anchor tenant from Nscale’s planned Loughton, Essex, facility because grid-connection delays threatened the power supply. The decision highlights electricity and permitting constraints that could slow Azure capacity expansion and increase infrastructure costs. Microsoft U.K. data-center withdrawal
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and execution pressure: Britain’s competition watchdog is considering strategic-market-status rules for Microsoft’s business software, potentially increasing compliance requirements. Investors are also watching whether very large AI capital expenditures generate sufficient revenue and cash flow to justify the spending. U.K. regulation article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI-stock weakness: A selloff across AI-related equities and concerns about financing, power availability and uncertain returns are weighing on large technology stocks, including Microsoft. The company’s elevated valuation leaves less room for disappointment if Azure growth or earnings guidance falls short.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.