Apex Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Apex Wealth Management reduced its Microsoft stake by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 1,919 shares and leaving it with 3,828 shares valued at about $1.76 million.
• Institutional ownership remains strong, with hedge funds and other investors still holding 71.13% of Microsoft’s stock even as some funds trimmed positions and others added.
• Analysts remain broadly positive despite some lower price targets, with Microsoft carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $562.69 average price target.

Apex Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,828 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,919 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Apex Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Apex Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Independent Wealth Network Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 9,819 shares of the software giant's stock worth $4,749,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 182,483 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,252,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $438,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,732,578 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,805,149,000 after purchasing an additional 341,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 17,124 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,282,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, New Street Research decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $562.69.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $445.39. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).

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