Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners cut its Microsoft stake by 73.2% in the fourth quarter, but Microsoft still remained its 3rd largest holding at 4.9% of the portfolio, worth about $220.4 million.
• Microsoft continues to attract attention for its AI and Azure momentum, with reports highlighting strong demand and large spending by customers such as ByteDance, which is seen as a key driver of investor interest.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including earnings of $4.27 per share on revenue of $82.89 billion, and it also declared a $0.91 quarterly dividend payable in September.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 73.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 455,725 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,245,225 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.9% of Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $220,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant's stock worth $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant's stock worth $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,262,509,000 after acquiring an additional 6,468,645 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New reporting suggests Microsoft is still benefiting from strong AI demand, including ByteDance spending more than $1 billion annually on Azure AI services and broader commentary that Azure growth and AI run-rate remain major drivers of investor interest. Microsoft Builds $1 Billion-Plus AI Business With ByteDance
• Positive Sentiment: Several pieces argued Microsoft’s pullback may be creating a buying opportunity because the company still has strong cash flow, dividend growth, and discounted valuation relative to its AI prospects. Microsoft's Boring Stock Story May Be Its Biggest Strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention for product and ecosystem updates, including a possible PayPal integration for Xbox buy-now-pay-later checkout and new Teams features, but these are not likely near-term stock movers. Microsoft Sizes Up PayPal as Xbox Leak Exposes Buy Now Pay Later Plans
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced or promoted securities class actions tied to Microsoft, alleging investors were harmed by misleading AI/Copilot-related statements during the May 2025 to January 2026 period. These legal headlines can weigh on sentiment. Portnoy Law Firm Announces Class Action on Behalf of Microsoft Corporation Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Another negative overhang is the claim that Copilot functionality issues contributed to a sharp stock drop, reinforcing investor concerns about execution risk and AI spending efficiency. Investor Rights Alert: Microsoft Faces Securities Fraud Class Action after Copilot Issues
• Negative Sentiment: There is also renewed concern that Microsoft’s gaming strategy is under pressure, with coverage pointing to the Steam Machine and broader cost-cutting in gaming as threats to growth in that segment. The Biggest Threat to Microsoft’s Gaming Ambitions is the Steam Machine

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $379.40 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $412.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $425.58. 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 company has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS 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 company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Dbs Bank lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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