Lincoln Capital Corp Lowers Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Lincoln Capital Corp trimmed its Microsoft holding by 4.3% in Q4, selling 2,111 shares to hold 47,282 shares valued at about $22,867,000, with MSFT representing roughly 8.1% of the firm's portfolio and its largest position.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Microsoft, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $563.72, supported by multiple Buy/Outperform and Strong Buy notes from analysts.
• Notable insider and institutional activity: EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares while director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares; institutional investors own about 71.13% of MSFT, with large stakes from Norges Bank, Nuveen, UBS and others.

Lincoln Capital Corp cut its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,282 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,111 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 8.1% of Lincoln Capital Corp's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Lincoln Capital Corp's holdings in Microsoft were worth $22,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities upgraded Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $563.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $394.60 and a 200 day moving average of $448.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

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 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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