Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. Reduces Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Garrison Bradford & Associates cut its Microsoft stake by 12.7% in Q4, selling 2,280 shares to hold 15,736 shares valued at $7.61 million, about 8.4% of the firm's portfolio and its 5th-largest holding.
• Microsoft beat quarterly estimates with $4.14 EPS vs. $3.86 expected and $81.27 billion in revenue (up 16.7% y/y), and the stock carries a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with a $563.72 price target.
• The company announced a $0.91 quarterly dividend (annualized $3.64, yield 0.8%, ex-dividend May 21, payable June 11), while insiders showed mixed activity—EVP Kathleen Hogan sold 12,321 shares and Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares.

Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,736 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,280 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.4% of Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IRON Financial LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 23.2% in the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the period. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the third quarter worth $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant's stock worth $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares during the period. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 14.0% in the third quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,247 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Barclays reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $590.00 to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $563.72.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $394.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

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 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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