Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Brown Advisory Inc.’s Largest Position

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,751,255 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 628,285 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 7.3% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,199,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased 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 buying an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third 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. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2,332.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $390.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $411.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.95. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $502.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered their target price on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

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).