Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Clifford Group LLC

Clifford Group LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,041 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.1% of Clifford Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Clifford Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,343,058,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 40,290.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,695,303 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $17,528,950,000 after acquiring an additional 46,579,693 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $509.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $510.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $453.82. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total transaction of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. The trade was a 11.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total value of $75,315,699.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares in the company, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup raised their price target on Microsoft from $605.00 to $613.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $637.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on Microsoft from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.54.

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.