Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 32,705 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 367,461 shares worth about $177.7 million.
• Microsoft continues to attract major institutional support, with large investors like Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital, and Northern Trust also adding to their positions; hedge funds and other institutions own 71.13% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive despite cutting some price targets: Microsoft has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average target price of $562.69, while the company also reported strong quarterly results with EPS and revenue beating expectations.

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 367,461 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 32,705 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of Merit Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $177,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, 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. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $562.69.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $415.00 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $445.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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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