Split Rock Private Trading & Wealth Management LLC Invests $1.55 Million in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Split Rock Private Trading & Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake of 3,203 shares of Microsoft in Q4 valued at approximately $1.55 million, making MSFT about 1.2% of the fund's holdings and its 12th largest position.
• Major institutions continue to add to Microsoft—Vanguard, State Street, Geode and Northern Trust increased positions and Norges Bank initiated a large new holding—leaving institutional ownership at about 71.13%.
• Microsoft beat Q‑results (EPS $4.27 vs. $4.06, revenue $82.89B, +18.3% YoY), announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91, saw insider activity (EVP Kathleen Hogan sold 12,321 shares while Director John Stanton bought 5,000), and carries an analyst consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target near $556.

Split Rock Private Trading & Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,203 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,549,000. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of Split Rock Private Trading & Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 691,386,214 shares of the software giant's stock worth $259,539,471,000 after buying an additional 7,314,509 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft moved Agent 365 out of preview to general availability, positioning itself as a leader in governance and security for enterprise AI agents — this improves MSFT's enterprise stickiness and could accelerate cloud/Copilot adoption. Microsoft takes Agent 365 out of preview
• Positive Sentiment: A small OpenClaw team is building "Project Lobster," an always-on assistant for knowledge workers inside Microsoft 365 — a product-led initiative that could expand Copilot-like monetization across Office workloads. Microsoft's OpenClaw team takes on the personal assistant challenge
• Positive Sentiment: Street support remains: Bernstein recently lifted its price objective and other analysts highlight large backlog growth and long-run upside, reinforcing a constructive view on MSFT's AI/cloud runway. Microsoft (MSFT): Most Promising AI Stock to Invest In
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner ecosystem traction: Microsoft is showing up in industry implementations (e.g., Medline’s Mpower supply‑chain solution built with Microsoft, and strong MSP adoption via Nerdio), which signals steady commercial demand but not immediate margin impact. Medline officially launches Mpower
• Negative Sentiment: Capital spending worries: analysts and commentators are flagging sharply higher AI capex (guidance for large GPU/infra spend and multiyear capex) and concerns about near-term capex ROI — a primary driver behind recent investor selling. Microsoft: Reasons To Be Concerned About Capex ROI
• Negative Sentiment: Post‑earnings weakness persists: the stock dropped after last week’s results as some investors parsed the spending outlook and backlog/momentum nuances, and commentators note the market reaction remains cautious. What can power Microsoft stock higher after earnings stumble?
• Negative Sentiment: Wider tech headwinds: hedge‑fund de‑risking of big tech and local data‑center/energy constraints (e.g., Denmark connection pauses) add macro and operational risk to MSFT’s hyperscale buildout. Hedge Funds Launch Biggest Tech Stock Pullback In Over 10 Years

Microsoft Trading Down 0.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $395.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $447.45. 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 results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. China Renaissance dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $556.00.

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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