Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Advisors Capital Management LLC's Largest Position

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, bringing holdings to 610,229 shares worth about $295.1 million. Microsoft now makes up roughly 3.5% of the firm’s portfolio, making it its largest position.
• Institutional ownership of Microsoft remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding about 71.13% of the company. Several major investors, including Vanguard, State Street, Geode, Norges Bank, and Northern Trust, also recently added to or established positions.
• Wall Street remains upbeat on MSFT, with 39 Buy ratings and an average target price of $560.88. The company’s recent earnings also beat expectations, as revenue rose 18.3% year over year and EPS came in above consensus.

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 610,229 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.5% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $295,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly deepening its AI strategy through talks with Anthropic over use of its Maia AI chips, which could expand demand for Microsoft’s custom silicon and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft's AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s reported integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerPoint highlights tighter product tie-ins that could boost adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and broader enterprise AI usage. ChatGPT Lands in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to accelerate corporate AI adoption, reinforcing expectations that Microsoft can monetize AI across large enterprise customers. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles and analyst notes framed MSFT as an undervalued momentum name with AI catalysts building, including RBC reiterating a buy rating, which may be supporting shares. Microsoft had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Royal Bank Of Canada
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is undergoing an internal AI-era leadership reset, including the planned departure of longtime executive Yusuf Mehdi, which signals strategic change but also adds some organizational uncertainty. Microsoft veteran executive Yusuf Mehdi is leaving after the next fiscal year
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage focused on Microsoft’s GitHub outages and higher AI operating costs, raising questions about execution, infrastructure strain, and whether AI usage is becoming too expensive to scale smoothly. Microsoft's GitHub was positioned to win the AI coding race. Outages got in the way
• Negative Sentiment: The Gates Foundation’s sale of its remaining Microsoft stake was a headline overhang, though it appears more like portfolio rebalancing than a direct read on Microsoft’s fundamentals. The Gates Foundation Sold All of Its Remaining Microsoft Stock. Should Investors Be Worried?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $418.57 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $399.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $437.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

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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