Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by HBW Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• HBW Advisory Services increased its Microsoft stake by 7% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 26,571 shares valued at approximately $9.84 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analysts remain broadly optimistic, with 42 Buy ratings and six Hold ratings; Microsoft has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $554.73, including a Morgan Stanley target of $600.
• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, exceeding estimates, while unveiling new cybersecurity AI products and maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,571 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,728 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.0% of HBW Advisory Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. HBW Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its first in-house cybersecurity AI model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, along with Project Perception, an agentic platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered attacks. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s enterprise security position and create additional demand for Azure and security services. Microsoft launches AI cybersecurity model and defense platform
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained bullish ahead of earnings. Citizens JMP reaffirmed a Market Outperform rating with a $550 target, while Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and a $540 target—well above Microsoft’s recent trading range. Microsoft stock moves higher
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanding partnerships and integrations across Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot support the argument that its broad enterprise ecosystem can monetize AI spending over time. Morgan Stanley estimates major technology companies could achieve 25%–50% returns on AI investments. AI capital expenditure plans

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MSFT. Scotiabank raised Microsoft from an "outperform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, President Capital increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $554.73.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $393.35 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $397.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $406.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last three months. Company 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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