Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners trimmed its Microsoft stake by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, but the position remains large at 827,237 shares worth about $400.1 million. Microsoft is still the fund’s second-largest holding.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive on the stock, with 41 Buy ratings and six Holds. The consensus price target is $561.20, even after several firms lowered their targets recently.
• Microsoft’s latest quarter showed solid fundamentals: earnings of $4.27 per share beat estimates, and revenue rose 18.3% year over year to $82.89 billion. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 827,237 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 77,138 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.3% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $400,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore reduced their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.74 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $411.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.64. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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