Brookstone Capital Management Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Brookstone Capital Management increased its Microsoft stake by 2.8% in the first quarter, buying 6,296 more shares and bringing its total holding to 227,658 shares worth about $84.3 million.
• Microsoft’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $4.27 versus estimates of $4.06 and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• Despite generally bullish analyst ratings and continued institutional interest, the stock faces pressure from AI-related capex concerns, margin worries, insider selling, and new regulatory issues such as an Italy antitrust probe.

Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 227,658 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 6,296 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 1.0% of Brookstone Capital Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $84,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft shares bounced as the broader memory and semiconductor market stabilized, helping relieve some of the pressure tied to AI infrastructure and component-cost fears.
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush and other bullish commentators said the recent tech selloff may be a buying opportunity, arguing Microsoft remains a core AI leader despite near-term volatility. Dan Ives Says Microsoft And Meta Are Being Treated Like 'Bear Market' Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft was mentioned in new partnerships and product integrations, including Commvault, PitchBook, FPT, and ICON plc, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI ecosystem. Microsoft Just Made Commvault a Native Azure Service. Here Is How to Play CVLT Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention from investors after Michael Burry disclosed a long position, which some traders viewed as a contrarian buy signal.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple articles noted analysts still like the stock long term, but Wall Street remains focused on whether AI spending is destroying near-term margins and free cash flow. Wall Street Analysts Think Microsoft (MSFT) Is a Good Investment: Is It?
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its Microsoft price target and warned that FY27 gross margin estimates may be too high because Azure growth is coming with heavier capex and margin pressure. Microsoft’s Stock Is Crippled
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced another worldwide Xbox price increase, citing soaring memory and storage costs, which adds to concerns that hardware inflation is squeezing the gaming business.
• Negative Sentiment: New legal and regulatory pressure also weighed on the stock, including an Italy antitrust probe into Microsoft 365 pricing and new shareholder class-action notices over alleged investor misinformation.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft 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 $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 5.7%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $372.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $410.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $421.47. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's payout ratio 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).

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