Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Reduced by Orange Investment Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Orange Investment Advisors cut its Microsoft holdings by 8.2% in the first quarter, selling 6,065 shares and leaving the firm with 67,754 shares valued at about $25.08 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains largely positive, with 40 Buy ratings and only seven Hold ratings. The consensus target price is about $560.98, even though some firms trimmed their price targets.
• Microsoft continues to draw attention for both AI-driven growth and cost-cutting, including a reported shift toward in-house AI models and about 4,800 layoffs, while recent earnings beat expectations with revenue up 18.3% year over year.

Orange Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,754 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 6,065 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.3% of Orange Investment Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Orange Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.98.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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

Microsoft Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $388.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization 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. 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 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company's fifty day moving average price is $404.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $416.21.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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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