Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co

Key Points

• W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co increased its Microsoft stake by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 16,116 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 125,782 shares worth about $60.8 million.
• Microsoft continues to benefit from major AI and cloud catalysts, including a reported $9.7 billion Pentagon contract and bullish analyst commentary on Azure, Copilot, and the company’s AI monetization prospects.
• Despite some concerns about rising AI infrastructure costs, Microsoft’s recent fundamentals remain strong: it beat earnings and revenue estimates, and analysts still broadly rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $560.88.

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 14.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 125,782 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 16,116 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.8% of W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co's holdings in Microsoft were worth $60,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The biggest catalyst was a $9.7 billion Pentagon contract to consolidate Microsoft and other software licenses into one vehicle, which should streamline federal procurement and reinforce Microsoft’s government software footprint. Pentagon awards Microsoft $9.7 billion deal in bid to cut costs, end license sprawl
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports said HSBC sees Microsoft’s Anthropic partnership as potentially worth up to $43 billion in annual revenue by 2030, lifting optimism around Azure and Microsoft’s AI monetization path. Is Microsoft ditching OpenAI for Anthropic?
• Positive Sentiment: KeyBanc reiterated an Overweight rating, citing continued strength in Azure and Copilot, while other analyst notes argued Wall Street may be underestimating Microsoft’s AI revenue potential. KeyBanc Reiterates Overweight Rating on Microsoft (MSFT) on Azure and Copilot Growth
• Positive Sentiment: HP’s earnings beat, driven in part by the Windows 11 refresh cycle and AI PC demand, indirectly supports Microsoft by signaling healthy PC upgrade activity around its ecosystem. HP beats revenue, profit estimates as AI PC and Windows 11 refresh boost demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Several items were broadly supportive of Microsoft’s AI strategy, including partner integrations around Microsoft Marketplace, Microsoft Foundry, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, but these are more incremental ecosystem updates than major stock-moving events.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary focused on near-term concerns around Microsoft’s heavy AI infrastructure spending and rising compute costs, with a few pieces arguing the stock remains under pressure despite the earnings beat. Cost of Compute is Far Beyond the Costs of the Employees: Microsoft Stock NASDAQ: MSFT Slips as the Achilles Heel is Found
• Negative Sentiment: There were also reports that Dan Loeb’s Third Point exited Microsoft, which may add to investor caution even as longer-term AI enthusiasm remains intact. Billionaire Dan Loeb Cashed Out of Microsoft Stock. Shares Are Down 14.2% YTD.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. New Street Research dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $412.67 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $400.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $435.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 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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