Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Hendershot Investments Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

Hendershot Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 64,291 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,296 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.0% of Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Hendershot Investments Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $31,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IRON Financial LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 23.2% during the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the period. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,247 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $525.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. China Renaissance cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.69.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $396.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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).