Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Clifford Swan Investment Counsel trimmed its Microsoft stake by 1.5% in the fourth quarter but still held 303,092 shares worth about $146.6 million. Microsoft remained its 2nd largest position, making up 4.9% of the firm’s holdings.
• Microsoft’s latest quarter beat expectations, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion versus $81.44 billion estimated. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.
• Recent headlines around Microsoft are mixed: analysts largely remain bullish, but there are concerns tied to job cuts in China, planned Xbox layoffs, and AI-related data/privacy issues. Institutional ownership remains high at 71.13%, and insiders have also been selling shares recently.

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 303,092 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,760 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.9% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $146,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are showing bullish sentiment toward Microsoft, with unusually heavy buying in long-dated call options suggesting some traders expect upside from here. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its cash-generation and shareholder-return profile. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MN8 Energy said two solar projects totaling 260 MW are now online under long-term power purchase agreements with Microsoft, supporting its AI/data-center infrastructure needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding AI and cloud partnerships, including new agentic AI collaborations and Copilot-related deployments, which supports the long-term growth narrative but also underscores ongoing AI spending pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure unit in China, highlighting regulatory friction and weaker operating conditions in a key market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Xbox is planning major layoffs and budget cuts next month are adding to concerns about slower growth and restructuring costs in Microsoft’s gaming division. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also limiting employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data-retention concerns, a reminder of the risks and competitive tensions around AI tools and partners. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,434,201.60. This represents a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,262 shares of company stock worth $8,695,581. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11. 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $410.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $429.80.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $502.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

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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