Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 121.1% in the first quarter, buying 54,200 more shares and bringing its total to 98,960 shares worth about $36.6 million.
• Microsoft remains a major holding for the firm, making up 2.1% of its portfolio and ranking as its 4th largest position.
• Despite some negative headlines around layoffs and legal pressure, analysts are still broadly bullish on Microsoft, with 40 Buy ratings and a consensus price target of about $560.98.

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 121.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,960 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 54,200 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.1% of Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is getting credit for shifting more AI workloads to its own in-house models, which could lower costs and improve margins in products like Excel and Outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish, arguing Microsoft’s Azure growth and AI infrastructure spending support the long-term thesis and could leave the shares undervalued after recent weakness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: DA Davidson reiterated a Buy rating and a $550 price target, signaling Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite near-term turbulence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Microsoft’s AI business remains constructive, with reports highlighting a large-scale AI revenue base and continued investor interest in the stock as an AI leader. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced about 4,800 layoffs, including roughly 3,200 roles tied to Xbox, as part of a broader reset of the gaming business and a cost-cutting restructuring. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say the Xbox division is underperforming, with weak margins and subscription results raising concerns that management is having to shrink a core consumer business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft also faces fresh securities-fraud class-action pressure tied to Copilot and Azure disclosures, adding legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $502.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.98.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was 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 $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $388.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $404.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $416.21. The company has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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