BSW Wealth Partners Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• BSW Wealth Partners trimmed its Microsoft position by 9.9% in Q4, selling 1,543 shares and ending the quarter with 13,976 shares worth about $6.76 million, roughly 0.8% of the firm's portfolio and its 26th-largest holding.
• Insider activity was mixed: EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares for about $5.05 million (an 8.2% cut), while Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares at roughly $397.35 per share.
• Microsoft beat quarterly estimates (EPS $4.27 vs. $4.06; revenue $82.89B vs. $81.44B) and announced a $0.91 quarterly dividend, but investor concern over rising AI capex and post‑earnings weakness persists despite a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and a target of $556.

BSW Wealth Partners lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,976 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,543 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.8% of BSW Wealth Partners' holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. BSW Wealth Partners' holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft moved Agent 365 out of preview to general availability, positioning itself as a leader in governance and security for enterprise AI agents — this improves MSFT's enterprise stickiness and could accelerate cloud/Copilot adoption. Microsoft takes Agent 365 out of preview
• Positive Sentiment: A small OpenClaw team is building "Project Lobster," an always-on assistant for knowledge workers inside Microsoft 365 — a product-led initiative that could expand Copilot-like monetization across Office workloads. Microsoft's OpenClaw team takes on the personal assistant challenge
• Positive Sentiment: Street support remains: Bernstein recently lifted its price objective and other analysts highlight large backlog growth and long-run upside, reinforcing a constructive view on MSFT's AI/cloud runway. Microsoft (MSFT): Most Promising AI Stock to Invest In
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner ecosystem traction: Microsoft is showing up in industry implementations (e.g., Medline’s Mpower supply‑chain solution built with Microsoft, and strong MSP adoption via Nerdio), which signals steady commercial demand but not immediate margin impact. Medline officially launches Mpower
• Negative Sentiment: Capital spending worries: analysts and commentators are flagging sharply higher AI capex (guidance for large GPU/infra spend and multiyear capex) and concerns about near-term capex ROI — a primary driver behind recent investor selling. Microsoft: Reasons To Be Concerned About Capex ROI
• Negative Sentiment: Post‑earnings weakness persists: the stock dropped after last week’s results as some investors parsed the spending outlook and backlog/momentum nuances, and commentators note the market reaction remains cautious. What can power Microsoft stock higher after earnings stumble?
• Negative Sentiment: Wider tech headwinds: hedge‑fund de‑risking of big tech and local data‑center/energy constraints (e.g., Denmark connection pauses) add macro and operational risk to MSFT’s hyperscale buildout. Hedge Funds Launch Biggest Tech Stock Pullback In Over 10 Years

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities raised Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $556.00.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $395.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $447.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.68 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Microsoft Company 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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