Gibbs Wealth Management Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Gibbs Wealth Management trimmed its Microsoft stake by 12.1% in Q4, selling 2,351 shares and leaving it with 17,052 shares valued at $8.17 million, making MSFT its 10th largest holding (2.0% of assets).
• Microsoft reported a Q3 EPS beat ($4.27 vs. $4.04) and 18.3% revenue growth to $82.89 billion, with accelerating Azure cloud growth and over 20 million paid Copilot users supporting AI-driven monetization.
• Near-term headwinds include a sharp capex surge pressuring margins and competitive/partnership uncertainty after OpenAI’s exclusivity reset, while analysts have trimmed price targets but the consensus rating remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of $563.72.

Gibbs Wealth Management trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,052 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,351 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 2.0% of Gibbs Wealth Management's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Gibbs Wealth Management's holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.9% in 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 EPS beat and revenue roughly in line — Microsoft reported $4.27 EPS, ahead of consensus, and revenue near Street expectations, which helped validate the company’s growth trajectory. Microsoft (MSFT) Beats Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Azure / Intelligent Cloud acceleration: management said cloud growth accelerated (company commentary and charts show mid-to-high‑30s/40% growth in Azure), easing investor worries that AI spending isn’t yet translating to demand. Microsoft tops Wall Street expectations, reports accelerating Azure growth and $37B AI run rate
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot adoption and monetization showing traction — Microsoft reported over 20M paid Copilot users with rising engagement, supporting future software/recurring-revenue upside. Microsoft says it has over 20M paid Copilot users
• Neutral Sentiment: Guidance roughly in line — Q4 revenue guidance was near consensus, so the company isn’t signaling an immediate downshift, but investors will watch next‑quarter detail for AI margin leverage. Press release / slide deck
• Neutral Sentiment: LinkedIn AI products on revenue track — Microsoft said LinkedIn hiring agents could reach ~$450M in annual revenue, a niche but tangible AI monetization path. LinkedIn's AI hiring agents on track for $450 million
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx surge and margin pressure — disclosures and third‑party summaries show capex rose sharply (large spend on data centers/AI hardware), which squeezes near‑term margins and fuels investor concern about ROI timing. Q3 earnings: capex surges (Quiver)
• Negative Sentiment: Partnership & competitive noise — OpenAI’s revised terms (non‑exclusive distribution) and the broader partner shifts to rivals like Amazon raise strategic questions about Microsoft’s privileged access and cloud leverage. OpenAI-Microsoft exclusivity reset coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Workforce and restructuring signals — Microsoft expects headcount to decline and has offered voluntary buyouts; that reduces near‑term payroll but underscores cost pressures tied to the AI buildout. Microsoft expects headcount to decrease

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $610.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $563.72.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction 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 represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $424.46 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $395.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $448.65.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.04 by $0.23. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

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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