James Investment Research Inc. Sells 1,424 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

James Investment Research Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,144 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,424 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.9% of James Investment Research Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. HSBC reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus lowered its price target on Microsoft but kept a buy rating, still implying roughly 32% upside from current levels. Benzinga / The Fly report on Argus price target cut
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Microsoft’s AI and Azure buildout as a long-term driver, with one piece arguing that AI data centers are effectively “pre-sold,” suggesting strong demand for Microsoft’s infrastructure spending. Article on AI spending returns
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings showed the company beat expectations on both revenue and EPS, reinforcing that the core business remains healthy despite the stock’s weak price action.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox/gaming unit is facing restructuring under Asha Sharma, including layoffs and tough decisions about studio strategy, which adds uncertainty but could improve efficiency over time. FT article on Xbox changes
• Neutral Sentiment: The Federal Reserve named Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to a jobs-and-productivity task force, keeping Microsoft in the policy conversation around AI and labor, but with no immediate financial impact. Yahoo Finance report on Fed task force
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued notices about a securities fraud class action tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations, increasing headline risk and investor caution. PR Newswire lawsuit notice
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Starbucks is building internal AI to replace some Microsoft software underscore a broader threat: customers may use AI to reduce reliance on Microsoft’s enterprise products, which could pressure future software revenue. MarketBeat Starbucks AI cost-cutting article
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI expansion is also drawing criticism over rising emissions and heavy capital spending, feeding worries that the company is paying more for growth while investors question the payback period. TechXplore emissions report

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $385.10 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $402.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $414.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).