Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Capital Investment Services of America Inc.'s 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Capital Investment Services of America trimmed its Microsoft stake by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, but MSFT still remains its 3rd-largest holding, representing 5.0% of the portfolio and worth about $53.2 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly upbeat on Microsoft, with 39 Buy ratings and seven Holds; the stock’s average price target is $560.88, even after a few analysts adjusted targets lower.
• Microsoft posted strong recent results, beating earnings and revenue estimates with $4.27 EPS on $82.89 billion in revenue, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,990 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,721 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.0% of Capital Investment Services of America Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $53,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IRON Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 23.2% in the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,372,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $493,860,000 after acquiring an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Microsoft from $600.00 to $550.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $525.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company'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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

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?

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $418.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $399.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $437.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 presently 21.67%.

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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