Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Decreased by First Western Trust Bank

First Western Trust Bank cut its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,839 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,988 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 0.9% of First Western Trust Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.6%

Microsoft stock opened at $495.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $509.93 and a 200 day moving average of $451.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.34%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.