Davis Rea LTD. Acquires 4,892 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Davis Rea LTD. increased its Microsoft stake by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 4,892 shares and bringing its total holding to 44,294 shares worth about $21.4 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $560.88.

Davis Rea LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,294 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,892 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 5.4% of Davis Rea LTD.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Davis Rea LTD.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after purchasing an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft 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 approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

MSFT opened at $421.06 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. 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 company has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $398.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $438.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush said Microsoft’s restructured OpenAI partnership looks like a net positive rather than a setback, reinforcing the view that MSFT remains a key beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption. Wedbush Views Microsoft (MSFT)’s Restructured OpenAI Partnership As Net Positive Rather Than Strategic Failure
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is still being framed as a leading AI and cloud winner, with commentary highlighting Azure growth, Copilot demand, and broader enterprise AI spending as long-term drivers. Wedbush Views Microsoft (MSFT)’s Restructured OpenAI Partnership As Net Positive Rather Than Strategic Failure
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is also attracting investor attention as a preferred AI holding, with one high-profile investor reportedly rotating out of Alphabet and into MSFT, which can be seen as a vote of confidence in the stock’s AI positioning. This Famous Investor Just Sold All Of His Alphabet Stock and Loaded Up On Microsoft Stock. Should You?
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a large purchase of 650,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits, suggesting continued investment in sustainability initiatives that may support its long-term corporate image and compliance goals. Microsoft's carbon removal plans aren't dead after all
• Neutral Sentiment: Some market commentary suggests Microsoft may be undervalued after a recent pullback, but that view is still debated and depends on whether AI spending translates into sustained earnings growth. Why Bill Ackman Thinks the Selloff in Microsoft Stock Is Misguided
• Negative Sentiment: The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a probe into Microsoft’s software practices, creating a regulatory overhang that could pressure sentiment if scrutiny expands. UK CMA Opens Probe Into Microsoft (MSFT) Software Practices
• Negative Sentiment: GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft, confirmed a security incident involving stolen internal repositories, adding a cybersecurity headline that could weigh on the stock near term. GitHub confirms 3,800 internal repos stolen through poisoned VS Code extension as supply chain worm hits Microsoft's Python SDK

Microsoft 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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