Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $201.74 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its Microsoft stake 2.7% to 417,149 shares worth $201.74 million, making MSFT the firm's largest holding at 3.7% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $563.72, though individual analyst ratings and price targets vary.
• Key corporate developments: Accenture will roll Copilot out to ~743,000 employees, likely boosting Copilot monetization and Azure use, while the end of OpenAI exclusivity and removal of Microsoft’s revenue share raises competitive and strategic uncertainty.

Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 417,149 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 11,013 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.7% of Carnegie Investment Counsel's portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Microsoft were worth $201,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. DZ Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $670.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $659.00 to $556.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $563.72.

Microsoft News Roundup

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

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm 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 price of $394.60 and a 200 day moving average price 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 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase 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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