Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its Microsoft stake by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 40,104 more shares and bringing its total to 393,787 shares valued at about $190.5 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings showed continued strength, with EPS of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue rising 18.3% year over year to $82.89 billion. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Investor sentiment remains broadly positive, with analysts maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price around $560.88. Recent headlines point to ongoing AI momentum, including expected new AI tools at Build and possible hardware refresh news with Nvidia.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 393,787 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 40,104 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.1% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $190,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Microsoft Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $402.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.62. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. President Capital upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. Dbs Bank cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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