Morse Asset Management Inc lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,406 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,572 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 4.0% of Morse Asset Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Christine Messmer PC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,075,000. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC now owns 8,529 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,125,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,132 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,867,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Foronjy Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Foronjy Financial LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $877,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordwand Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordwand Advisors LLC now owns 49,695 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $24,033,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research upped their target price 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, President Capital increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,083 shares of company stock worth $12,710,152. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Microsoft Price Performance
Microsoft stock opened at $441.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $403.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.
Microsoft News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
- Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
- Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
- Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
- Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
- Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.
Microsoft Profile
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).
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