Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Raised by Alley Investment Management Company LLC

Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 66,734 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,686 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.0% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $24,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $58,624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $570.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial lowered Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.84.

Microsoft News Roundup

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

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $385.10. 24,605,248 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 44,511,868. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $402.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $414.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

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).