Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Lifted by Evolve Private Wealth LLC

Evolve Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 98,048 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,100 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Evolve Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Evolve Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allegheny Financial Group boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the first quarter. Allegheny Financial Group now owns 23,455 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,682,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 29.1% during the first quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 12,504 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,822 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD now owns 527,159 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $195,138,000 after purchasing an additional 81,500 shares during the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 35,214 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $13,535,000 after purchasing an additional 6,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 56,606 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,954,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $352.83 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $411.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. New Street Research reduced their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure new enterprise AI and cloud partnerships, including expanded collaborations around Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure, which support its long-term AI monetization story.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year power agreement tied to its Texas data-center buildout helps de-risk AI infrastructure expansion and supports cloud capacity growth.
• Positive Sentiment: ICON plc selected Microsoft as a preferred technology partner, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s AI and productivity tools in healthcare and enterprise workflows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain split: some still view Microsoft as a high-quality AI platform with strong long-term upside, while others say the stock has been oversold and may be approaching a valuation reset.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was also named in multiple new or ongoing lawsuits and class-action notices tied to alleged securities issues and copyright claims involving AI training data, adding headline risk but no immediate operating impact yet.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target on Microsoft and said Wall Street’s gross-margin expectations may be too high as Azure growth and AI capex pressure cloud profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes and repeated gaming price increases suggest hardware cost inflation is squeezing a business line that had already been weakening.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI spending, shrinking free cash flow, and lower cloud-margin expectations is weighing on sentiment and helping explain why MSFT is falling.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators said Microsoft Azure may face stricter “gatekeeper” rules under the Digital Markets Act, raising the possibility of more compliance burden and oversight in Europe.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s quantum-computing claims also came under renewed criticism, which adds to skepticism around some of its more speculative AI-related initiatives.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).