Ledyard National Bank Sells 1,349 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ledyard National Bank cut its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 106,951 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,349 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.2% of Ledyard National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $39,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the period. Taylor Securities Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 138.8% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. CLSA reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $564.27.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $493.95 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $449.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $417.29. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft disclosed that Azure is generating more than a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate and reorganized reporting around AI infrastructure and agents. Greater Azure transparency and accelerating demand could support revenue visibility and investor confidence. Microsoft Breaks Out Azure Sales at $100 Billion Annualized Pace, Reorganizes AI Segments
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is positioned at the center of a projected multitrillion-dollar AI infrastructure buildout, with Azure demand, large customer commitments, and its partnership with NVIDIA potentially creating a long-term growth opportunity. Nvidia, Microsoft at Center of $7 Trillion AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with recent buy or overweight ratings and a reported median price target of $540. However, the stock’s sharp advance and proximity to its prior high make continued gains dependent on cash-flow conversion and the payoff from heavy AI investment. Microsoft Stock Opinions on Recent Earnings and Business Reorganization
• Negative Sentiment: Two additional lawsuits from news organizations over the use of news content in AI training increase legal uncertainty around Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship and could create financial, reputational, or operational costs. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s effort to measure the “useful yield” produced by each AI infrastructure dollar and watt highlights investor concerns about whether massive data-center spending will generate adequate returns. The scrutiny could pressure sentiment toward Microsoft and key supplier NVIDIA. Microsoft’s Useful Yield Test Raises the Stakes for NVIDIA’s AI Economics
• Negative Sentiment: Recent reports also cite insider selling, including sales by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, while separate reports of Outlook and Microsoft 365 service disruptions add modest execution and reliability concerns. Microsoft’s OpenAI Partnership Draws Fresh Legal Fire

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,335 shares of company stock worth $50,655,795. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.