Apollon Financial LLC Acquires 2,559 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Apollon Financial LLC raised its Microsoft stake by 6.9%, buying 2,559 shares to hold 39,627 shares worth $19.16 million, making MSFT 2.8% of the fund and its sixth-largest position.
• Market catalysts are mixed: Accenture will roll Copilot out to ~743,000 employees (boosting Copilot monetization and Azure demand), while Microsoft’s revised OpenAI deal ends revenue-sharing and non‑exclusive IP terms, enabling OpenAI models on rival clouds and raising competitive uncertainty.
• Notable insider and market signals: EVP Kathleen Hogan sold 12,321 shares (~$5.05M) and Director John Stanton bought 5,000 shares; analysts overall rate MSFT a "Moderate Buy" (consensus target ~$563.72) and the company pays a $0.91 quarterly dividend (yield ~0.8%).

Apollon Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,627 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.8% of Apollon Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Apollon Financial LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $19,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture will roll Copilot out to all ~743,000 employees, a large enterprise deployment that should accelerate Copilot monetization and Azure consumption. Accenture to roll out Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages and analysts reiterated buy/outperform ratings or raised targets (TD Cowen, HSBC, RBC, Barclays, Benchmark among them), signaling continued Wall Street support that helps limit downside after recent volatility. Analyst ratings update
• Positive Sentiment: Notable value buyer Michael Burry disclosed a new MSFT stake, a high‑profile contrarian buy that can attract other bargain hunters and provide technical support. Michael Burry buys MSFT
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft reports fiscal Q3 results after the close Wednesday; previews highlight Azure growth and Copilot monetization as the key levers — earnings could spark a sharp intraday move either way. Earnings preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary urges a “reset” narrative: some strategists say the cloud / AI story remains intact but investors need clearer evidence of durable margin and revenue inflection from Copilot/Azure. MarketWatch reset note
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to stop paying OpenAI a revenue share and to make its IP license non‑exclusive — the change removes some strategic advantages, triggered an earlier share pullback and raises long‑term competitive uncertainty for Azure. Seeking Alpha on revenue share end
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI models began appearing on Amazon Bedrock and the updated pact allows hosting on rival clouds, increasing competition for AI workloads and data‑center demand away from Microsoft. OpenAI on Amazon Bedrock
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks are rising — the Musk v. Altman/OpenAI trial and EU moves to target cloud/AI competition could create headline risk and potential business constraints for Microsoft. EU rules on cloud/AI

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $394.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 payout ratio is 22.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $635.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $563.72.

Microsoft 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).

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