Capital Wealth Planning LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,434,490 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 83,627 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.2% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $742,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft has a near-term product catalyst: a $99/month AI tools bundle (includes Copilot capabilities) with a May 1 launch that could drive commercial adoption and recurring ARR growth. Microsoft Is Racing to Beat Claude Cowork. A Big Catalyst for MSFT Stock Is Coming May 1.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding into healthcare AI with Copilot Health (can read medical records and provide personalized insights) and partner integrations, opening a large vertical market and cross‑sell opportunities for Azure and Copilot. Microsoft launched a new healthcare chatbot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft 365 E7 bundles Copilot, Anthropic’s Claude Cowork and security tools — a premium enterprise offering that can lift average revenue per user for large customers. Analysts continue to highlight AI-driven revenue upside. Microsoft’s New E7 AI Suite And Healthcare Push Shape Long-Term Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox/product cycle news: Microsoft is advancing Project Helix (next‑gen Xbox) but prototypes won’t reach developers until 2027 — positive for long-term console moat but not an immediate revenue driver. Microsoft’s Next Xbox Moves Closer to Reality: What It Means for MSFT Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Gaming/graphics tech progress (DirectX/advanced shader delivery with NVIDIA/Intel) reduces frictions for PC gaming and helps Xbox/Windows gaming competitiveness but is a more gradual, longer-term tailwind. DirectX Gears Up For ML Era On Windows
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about huge AI data‑center capex and public pushback over electricity/costs is weighing on the stock; large lease and buildouts boost growth but increase near‑term cash burn. Who is really footing the AI energy bill? Inside the debate about data center electricity costs
• Negative Sentiment: Security scare: reports of a new vulnerability in Microsoft Authenticator have spooked investors and triggered selling pressure tied to identity/security risk. New Vulnerability in Microsoft Authenticator Sends Microsoft Stock Sliding
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change: Rajesh Jha, a long‑time head of experiences and devices (Office/Copilot products), announced retirement — creates short‑term execution/transition uncertainty. Microsoft’s Rajesh Jha, head of experiences and devices unit, to retire
• Negative Sentiment: Options and flows show increased demand for downside protection (put-call skew steepening), reflecting trader caution after the pullback. Option traders moderately bearish in Microsoft with shareslittle changed

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $395.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $427.46 and a 200 day moving average of $476.21. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSFT. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Company 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).