Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 304,424 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,464 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 5.0% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $147,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $441.31 on Wednesday. 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 $3.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $403.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $433.78.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,083 shares of company stock valued at $12,710,152 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday. They set a “market outperform” rating on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

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).