Stockman Wealth Management Inc. Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Stockman Wealth Management increased its Microsoft stake by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 3,482 additional shares and bringing its total to 55,056 shares valued at about $26.6 million.
• Microsoft reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $4.27 versus estimates of $4.06 and revenue of $82.89 billion, up 18.3% year over year.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable on June 11, while analysts remain broadly positive with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $560.88.

Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,056 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 3,482 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.1% of Stockman Wealth Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Stockman Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th 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. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% 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 currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $418.57 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $399.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $437.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. The business's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

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?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. President Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, New Street Research dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $560.88.

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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