Midland Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Midland Wealth Advisors LLC cut its Microsoft stake by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 1,629 shares and leaving it with 25,840 shares valued at about $12.5 million.
• Despite that trim, institutional ownership remains strong: several other hedge funds increased their Microsoft positions, and 71.13% of the stock is held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Microsoft’s latest results were solid, with Q4 earnings and revenue both beating estimates, while analysts remain mostly positive even as some price targets were lowered amid concerns about heavy AI and data-center spending.

Midland Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,840 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 1,629 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.7% of Midland Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trivium Point Advisory LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 66,385 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $32,105,000 after purchasing an additional 3,015 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 367,461 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $177,712,000 after purchasing an additional 32,705 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,031,541 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $498,875,000 after purchasing an additional 151,592 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD increased its stake in Microsoft by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD now owns 445,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $216,033,000 after purchasing an additional 65,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,682 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. New Street Research decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $562.69.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $415.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $396.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $445.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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