Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Reduced by Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC

Key Points

• Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC reduced its Microsoft stake by 28.8% in the first quarter, selling 2,257 shares and leaving it with 5,576 shares worth about $2.06 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $4.27 per share beating estimates and revenue of $82.89 billion rising 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average target price of $560.86.

Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,576 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 2,257 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 1.1% of Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $352.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year 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 firm's fifty day simple moving average is $411.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $421.81.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share 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 revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure new enterprise AI and cloud partnerships, including expanded collaborations around Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure, which support its long-term AI monetization story.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year power agreement tied to its Texas data-center buildout helps de-risk AI infrastructure expansion and supports cloud capacity growth.
• Positive Sentiment: ICON plc selected Microsoft as a preferred technology partner, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s AI and productivity tools in healthcare and enterprise workflows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain split: some still view Microsoft as a high-quality AI platform with strong long-term upside, while others say the stock has been oversold and may be approaching a valuation reset.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was also named in multiple new or ongoing lawsuits and class-action notices tied to alleged securities issues and copyright claims involving AI training data, adding headline risk but no immediate operating impact yet.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target on Microsoft and said Wall Street’s gross-margin expectations may be too high as Azure growth and AI capex pressure cloud profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes and repeated gaming price increases suggest hardware cost inflation is squeezing a business line that had already been weakening.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI spending, shrinking free cash flow, and lower cloud-margin expectations is weighing on sentiment and helping explain why MSFT is falling.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators said Microsoft Azure may face stricter “gatekeeper” rules under the Digital Markets Act, raising the possibility of more compliance burden and oversight in Europe.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s quantum-computing claims also came under renewed criticism, which adds to skepticism around some of its more speculative AI-related initiatives.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. China Renaissance cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $550.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.86.

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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