Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Trimmed by Parthenon LLC

Key Points

• Parthenon LLC trimmed its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in Q4, selling 4,987 shares and now holding 227,469 shares worth about $110.0 million, which represent 11.9% of the firm's portfolio and its largest holding.
• Wall Street's consensus is a Moderate Buy on MSFT with an average price target of $563.72—most analysts rate it Buy, though a few firms have recently lowered price targets.
• Near‑term catalysts and risks include Accenture’s planned roll‑out of Copilot to ~743,000 employees (a potential boost to Copilot monetization and Azure) versus Microsoft’s revised OpenAI deal and OpenAI models appearing on Amazon Bedrock, which raise competition and regulatory/legal headline risk.

Parthenon LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 227,469 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 4,987 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 11.9% of Parthenon LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Parthenon LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $110,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $590.00 to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $563.72.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Accenture will roll Copilot out to all ~743,000 employees, a large enterprise deployment that should accelerate Copilot monetization and Azure consumption. Accenture to roll out Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages and analysts reiterated buy/outperform ratings or raised targets (TD Cowen, HSBC, RBC, Barclays, Benchmark among them), signaling continued Wall Street support that helps limit downside after recent volatility. Analyst ratings update
• Positive Sentiment: Notable value buyer Michael Burry disclosed a new MSFT stake, a high‑profile contrarian buy that can attract other bargain hunters and provide technical support. Michael Burry buys MSFT
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft reports fiscal Q3 results after the close Wednesday; previews highlight Azure growth and Copilot monetization as the key levers — earnings could spark a sharp intraday move either way. Earnings preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary urges a “reset” narrative: some strategists say the cloud / AI story remains intact but investors need clearer evidence of durable margin and revenue inflection from Copilot/Azure. MarketWatch reset note
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to stop paying OpenAI a revenue share and to make its IP license non‑exclusive — the change removes some strategic advantages, triggered an earlier share pullback and raises long‑term competitive uncertainty for Azure. Seeking Alpha on revenue share end
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI models began appearing on Amazon Bedrock and the updated pact allows hosting on rival clouds, increasing competition for AI workloads and data‑center demand away from Microsoft. OpenAI on Amazon Bedrock
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks are rising — the Musk v. Altman/OpenAI trial and EU moves to target cloud/AI competition could create headline risk and potential business constraints for Microsoft. EU rules on cloud/AI

Microsoft Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $429.25 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $394.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $448.82. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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