Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 105,156 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,395 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.5% of Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. President Capital upped their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.98.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $384.36 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $403.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $414.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $349.20 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.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to expand its AI strategy, including a new “Microsoft Frontier Company” unit backed by a $2.5 billion investment and staffed with thousands of industry and engineering experts to help customers adopt AI faster.
• Positive Sentiment: Haleon signed a five-year agreement with Microsoft to deploy agentic AI across global operations, showing that enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI tools remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings beat and revenue growth continue to support the long-term bull case, with the company still viewed as a key beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced its fiscal Q4 2026 earnings date for July 29, which keeps investor focus on upcoming results and guidance.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators remain split on the stock, with some arguing Microsoft is trading at a rare discount after a steep pullback, while others say heavy AI capital spending is clouding the near-term outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is replacing some OpenAI and Anthropic models with its own in-house AI tools have stirred debate, with investors interpreting it as both a cost-saving move and a sign that Microsoft is trying to control AI expenses more tightly.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted rising AI infrastructure spending, including concerns that capex is growing faster than margin benefits, which is pressuring sentiment toward MSFT and other hyperscalers.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft disclosed a 25%–27% jump in greenhouse gas emissions as data center buildout accelerated, adding ESG and execution concerns to the AI expansion story.
• Negative Sentiment: Class-action lawsuit headlines and deadline reminders tied to alleged AI/Copilot misrepresentations are adding legal overhang and investor uncertainty.
• Negative Sentiment: Starbucks’ plan to use its own AI tools to cut software costs from vendors like Microsoft is feeding a broader narrative that large enterprises may eventually reduce third-party software spending.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 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).