Morningstar Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management LLC cut its Microsoft stake by 30.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 50,462 shares and leaving it with 112,681 shares valued at about $54.5 million.
• Despite that sale, Microsoft remains a major institutional holding overall, with institutions owning 71.13% of the company’s stock and large firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Geode continuing to add shares.
• Microsoft’s business and outlook remain strong: the company beat quarterly earnings expectations, raised confidence around its AI growth story, and continues to draw mostly bullish analyst ratings with a consensus Moderate Buy and average price target of $561.20.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,681 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 50,462 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.2% of Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Build 2026 announcements and related coverage continued to reinforce the company’s AI growth story, including new in-house models, agent tools, Windows upgrades, and enterprise AI infrastructure that could deepen its competitive position. Analysts Say Buy Microsoft Stock (MSFT) after Build 2026 Reinforces AI Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted Microsoft’s AI revenue run rate crossing $37 billion, suggesting strong monetization from Azure, Copilot, and enterprise AI offerings. Microsoft's AI Revenue Run Rate Just Crossed $37 Billion. Is It the Best AI Stock to Buy Now?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains supportive, with TD Cowen reiterating a buy rating and a $540 target, while other analysts and investors continue to frame Microsoft as a durable long-term AI and cloud leader. The Market Is Undervaluing Microsoft, Says Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s bullish comments comparing Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon to long-term compounding opportunities also added to the constructive investment narrative around MSFT. Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman: Buying Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon Today Could Be Like Adding Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway 25 Years Ago
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced Reid Hoffman will leave its board after nearly a decade; the move appears planned, though it removes a board member closely associated with the LinkedIn/OpenAI relationship. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to step down from Microsoft's board
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also attracting attention for broader AI ecosystem developments, including fusion power support from Helion and network-security integration for AI agents, which are positive long-term but not immediate stock catalysts. Helion, the Sam Altman-backed fusion startup, raises $465M to build a power plant for Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Several pieces flagged technical weakness in Microsoft’s chart and said the stock’s recent rejection at resistance could weigh on the broader software trade. Microsoft Stock Charts Look Vulnerable. Software Stocks Could Follow.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary around Satya Nadella rebuking an internal “make people addicted” AI memo and renewed concern over Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI may be creating some short-term reputational and partnership noise. Reid Hoffman to Leave Microsoft's Board of Directors

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.67 on Monday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $407.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $431.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC decreased their target price on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $561.20.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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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