Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Lessened by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 198,977 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,813 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.5% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $96,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed a buy rating on Microsoft, a vote of confidence from an active sell‑side firm that supports demand for the shares. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group
• Positive Sentiment: RBC Capital commented on Microsoft’s amended OpenAI deal — the note frames the partnership terms as a strategic positive for long‑term AI revenue and cloud demand, which could underpin MSFT’s growth outlook. Here’s What RBC Capital Thinks About Microsoft (MSFT) After Amended Deal With OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Product and execution wins: Microsoft moved Agent 365 out of preview and continues to expand AI agent and Copilot integrations across Microsoft 365 — these enterprise product rollouts help monetize AI inside existing commercial relationships. Microsoft takes Agent 365 out of preview as shadow AI becomes an enterprise threat
• Positive Sentiment: Bull perspective: several analysts and commentators argue MSFT is attractively valued given backlog and cloud visibility, describing the stock as a long‑term compounding opportunity despite near‑term headwinds. Microsoft: A Generational Compounding Opportunity At 21x P/E
• Neutral Sentiment: Price‑target action: China Renaissance trimmed its MSFT target to $550 from $630 but kept a buy rating — a modest downgrade in optics but still implies material upside from current levels. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $550.00 by Analysts at China Renaissance
• Negative Sentiment: Investor rotation risk: Altimeter sold Microsoft in favor of Nvidia and SK Hynix — portfolio managers are favoring AI compute/hardware exposure over software/cloud exposure, creating selling pressure for MSFT. Why Altimeter Sold Microsoft For Nvidia, SK Hynix: CEO Gerstner Warns Investors Must ‘Make Choices’ Between Software And AI Compute
• Negative Sentiment: Cost and margin worries: commentators note the market is currently pricing Microsoft for rising AI infrastructure costs rather than future AI revenue — heavy GPU/infra spend and guidance for lower cloud gross margins are pressuring sentiment. Microsoft: The Market Is Pricing AI Costs, Not AI Returns
• Negative Sentiment: High capex flagged by pundits and TV commentators (e.g., Jim Cramer) remains a headline risk — investors are sensitive to the company’s multiyear GPU and data‑center spend and the timing of return on that investment. Jim Cramer Points to Elevated Capital Spending as a Concern for Microsoft Investors

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $395.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.45. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10.

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, 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 the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.00.

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).