Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Increased by Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC

Key Points

• Patriot Financial Group increased its Microsoft stake by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, making MSFT its largest holding at 2.6% of portfolio assets, worth about $21.6 million.
• Microsoft recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both beating expectations, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on the stock despite some target cuts: analysts still rate Microsoft a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $562.69, and the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,760 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,863 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.6% of Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $21,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in 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. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. 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: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $396.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $445.39.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $562.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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