Prospera Financial Services Inc Buys 12,135 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Prospera Financial Services Inc. boosted its Microsoft stake by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 12,135 shares and bringing its total holdings to 275,124 shares worth about $133.1 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with several large funds—including Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital Management, and Norges Bank—also increasing or adding to their Microsoft positions.
• Microsoft continues to get strong support from analysts and AI-related momentum, with multiple firms maintaining buy/outperform ratings and the stock benefiting from news around Build 2026 and a reported AI revenue run rate above $37 billion.

Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 275,124 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 12,135 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.2% of Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings in Microsoft were worth $133,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories 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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.67 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $407.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $432.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.80, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction 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 represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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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