Center For Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Center For Asset Management LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 29.1% in the first quarter, buying 2,822 additional shares and bringing its total to 12,504 shares worth about $4.63 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both ahead of estimates. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Despite the solid results, the stock was trading lower and some analysts trimmed price targets amid concerns about AI spending, cloud-margin pressure, and slower Azure growth. Even so, Wall Street still broadly rates Microsoft a “Moderate Buy.”

Center For Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 29.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,504 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,822 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.3% of Center For Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Center For Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant's stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,251 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price target (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, New Street Research decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $560.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $352.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm's 50 day moving average is $411.13 and its 200 day moving average is $421.81. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure new enterprise AI and cloud partnerships, including expanded collaborations around Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure, which support its long-term AI monetization story.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year power agreement tied to its Texas data-center buildout helps de-risk AI infrastructure expansion and supports cloud capacity growth.
• Positive Sentiment: ICON plc selected Microsoft as a preferred technology partner, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s AI and productivity tools in healthcare and enterprise workflows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain split: some still view Microsoft as a high-quality AI platform with strong long-term upside, while others say the stock has been oversold and may be approaching a valuation reset.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was also named in multiple new or ongoing lawsuits and class-action notices tied to alleged securities issues and copyright claims involving AI training data, adding headline risk but no immediate operating impact yet.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target on Microsoft and said Wall Street’s gross-margin expectations may be too high as Azure growth and AI capex pressure cloud profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes and repeated gaming price increases suggest hardware cost inflation is squeezing a business line that had already been weakening.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI spending, shrinking free cash flow, and lower cloud-margin expectations is weighing on sentiment and helping explain why MSFT is falling.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators said Microsoft Azure may face stricter “gatekeeper” rules under the Digital Markets Act, raising the possibility of more compliance burden and oversight in Europe.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s quantum-computing claims also came under renewed criticism, which adds to skepticism around some of its more speculative AI-related initiatives.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Corporate 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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