Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,362 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 8,788 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of Brookstone Capital Management's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $107,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, March 5th. New Street Research upped their target price on Microsoft from $670.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $588.97.
View Our Latest Report on MSFT
Trending Headlines about Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Expanded marketing tie-up with Publicis strengthens Microsoft’s positioning in AI-driven advertising and marketing workflows, supporting revenue potential outside core cloud products. Read More.
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is rolling out enterprise AI infrastructure and governance (Agent 365 launch partners like Reply), which helps convert enterprise demand for managed AI agents into repeatable revenue. This is a strategic enterprise sales lever for Azure and services. Read More.
- Positive Sentiment: M12-backed RAAPID investment (healthcare AI) highlights Microsoft’s ecosystem play and could widen Azure/Microsoft Health adoption in a regulated vertical. Read More.
- Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s large backlog / remaining performance obligations (RPO) — cited above $625B in coverage — gives revenue visibility that could offset short-term margin pressure from capex. Read More.
- Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming April earnings release date (Q3 FY26) focuses investors on guidance and capex cadence — a scheduled catalyst that could swing sentiment either way. Read More.
- Negative Sentiment: Market concerns about sharply higher capital expenditures for AI infrastructure and faster-than-expected competition (Google/Anthropic) are pressuring margins and valuation multiples. Coverage highlights a “Copilot code red” overhaul and investor fear that AI buildout costs will persist. Read More.
- Negative Sentiment: Wave of senior departures raises execution and talent-retention concerns at a sensitive time for product rollouts. Investor nervousness on leadership stability amplifies sell-pressure. Read More.
- Negative Sentiment: Broader tech sell-off, geopolitical risk (Middle East) and headlines about developer/service disruptions (e.g., VeraCrypt account lock) are worsening sentiment and liquidity for big-cap tech stocks like MSFT. Read More. • Read More.
Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $373.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $393.29 and a 200-day moving average of $459.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $355.67 and a 1-year high of $555.45.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.
Insider Activity
In related news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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