Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. increased its Microsoft stake by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 1,547 shares and bringing its total to 41,379 shares worth about $20.0 million.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 versus $4.06 expected and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• The company continues to draw investor and analyst support amid AI-driven growth catalysts, including new AI partnerships and product integrations, while Wall Street’s consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $560.88.

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,379 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,547 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 1.8% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 increased its stake 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 increased its stake 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 $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.57 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $399.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $437.48. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly deepening its AI strategy through talks with Anthropic over use of its Maia AI chips, which could expand demand for Microsoft’s custom silicon and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Anthropic in talks to use Microsoft's AI chips, The Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI’s reported integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerPoint highlights tighter product tie-ins that could boost adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and broader enterprise AI usage. ChatGPT Lands in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and EY announced a $1 billion partnership to accelerate corporate AI adoption, reinforcing expectations that Microsoft can monetize AI across large enterprise customers. Microsoft and EY Team to Promote Corporate AI Adoption
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles and analyst notes framed MSFT as an undervalued momentum name with AI catalysts building, including RBC reiterating a buy rating, which may be supporting shares. Microsoft had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Royal Bank Of Canada
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is undergoing an internal AI-era leadership reset, including the planned departure of longtime executive Yusuf Mehdi, which signals strategic change but also adds some organizational uncertainty. Microsoft veteran executive Yusuf Mehdi is leaving after the next fiscal year
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage focused on Microsoft’s GitHub outages and higher AI operating costs, raising questions about execution, infrastructure strain, and whether AI usage is becoming too expensive to scale smoothly. Microsoft's GitHub was positioned to win the AI coding race. Outages got in the way
• Negative Sentiment: The Gates Foundation’s sale of its remaining Microsoft stake was a headline overhang, though it appears more like portfolio rebalancing than a direct read on Microsoft’s fundamentals. The Gates Foundation Sold All of Its Remaining Microsoft Stock. Should Investors Be Worried?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Microsoft to $502.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial cut Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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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