Legacy Trust raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,378 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,444 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.0% of Legacy Trust's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Legacy Trust's holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during 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 during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MSFT has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $570.00.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Key Stories Impacting Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Accenture will deploy Microsoft Copilot to ~743,000 employees, a large enterprise adoption that should boost Microsoft 365/Commercial monetization and validate Copilot demand. Accenture to roll out Copilot to all 743,000 employees in boost for Microsoft
- Positive Sentiment: Notable value investor Michael Burry disclosed a new MSFT purchase, a signal some traders view as a contrarian endorsement after recent weakness. Michael Burry Just Bought Microsoft. It’s a Genius Move Worth Following
- Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive but are trimming targets and recalibrating near-term expectations ahead of earnings — Oppenheimer reaffirmed Outperform but cut its PT; Cantor Fitzgerald trimmed its target too. That keeps long‑term thesis intact but raises short‑term uncertainty. Oppenheimer Outperform, PT Cut (Benzinga)
- Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and previews (Jefferies, Evercore, others) flag Q3 earnings as pivotal — strong cloud and AI numbers could reignite the rally, so near-term price action will hinge on Wednesday’s print. Microsoft Q3 preview: Jefferies says it's time to reset the narrative
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft and OpenAI rewrote their deal: Microsoft’s exclusive license ends, OpenAI can sell products on AWS/Google Cloud, and Microsoft will stop traditional revenue sharing — a change that reduces Azure’s exclusivity moat and spurred an immediate share pullback as investors price higher cloud competition. Microsoft and OpenAI gut their exclusive deal, freeing OpenAI to sell on AWS and Google Cloud
- Negative Sentiment: Operational and regulatory noise: an Outlook.com sign‑in outage and a new UK antitrust lawsuit from Slack over Teams bundling add execution and legal risk that could weigh on near‑term sentiment. Microsoft says Outlook.com outage is causing sign‑in failures - BleepingComputer Microsoft facing UK antitrust lawsuit from Slack over Teams 'bundling' (Reuters)
Microsoft Stock Up 0.0%
Shares of MSFT stock opened at $424.82 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a P/E/G 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. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $393.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.40.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Dividend Announcement
The firm 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.
Microsoft Profile
(
Free Report)
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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