Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,267 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the quarter. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock worth $30,840,432,000 after purchasing an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock worth $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.
Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%
Microsoft stock opened at $424.82 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $393.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.40.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Microsoft Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.
More Microsoft News
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Accenture will roll Copilot out to all ~743,000 employees, a large commercial endorsement for Microsoft’s Copilot/365 revenue path and Azure usage prospects. Accenture to roll out Copilot
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a long‑term hyperscale GPU/data‑center agreement that underpins demand for Azure AI capacity and supports third‑party operator revenue (IREN deal coverage highlights the broader tailwind to Microsoft cloud). Bull Case For IREN
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a A$25B investment to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in Australia — a large, multi‑year capex commitment that signals long‑term demand for Azure and services. MSFT Announces A$25B Investment
- Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are an imminent catalyst (MSFT reports fiscal Q3 results April 29). Consensus expects continued AI-driven revenue growth, making the report a key near‑term driver of the stock. Earnings Preview
- Neutral Sentiment: High‑profile investors (e.g., Michael Burry) disclosed purchases, signaling value‑buyer interest after recent declines — supports the “buy the dip” narrative but is not a guaranteed catalyst. Michael Burry Buys MSFT
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft and OpenAI revised their partnership: Microsoft’s license is no longer exclusive, revenue‑sharing was restructured/capped, and OpenAI can sell on rival clouds. That reduced the perceived unique strategic advantage and sparked an early selloff. Reuters: Microsoft to end exclusive license
- Negative Sentiment: Analysts cut price targets and warned of near‑term headwinds (Oppenheimer trimmed its PT; Cantor Fitzgerald lowered its target), reflecting investor concern about AI capex, revenue sharing changes and margin pressure. Analyst updates
- Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts (~7% of workforce reported), a cost‑control move that signals margin management but also acknowledges reorganization pressure amid heavy AI investment. MSFT Offers Voluntary Buyouts
- Negative Sentiment: Service disruption: an Outlook/Outlook.com sign‑in outage affected users and attracted press attention — operational hiccup but limited long‑term financial impact. Outlook outage fixed
Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft
In related news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Mizuho reduced their price target on Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "hold" rating and issued a $392.00 target price (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Microsoft from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $568.16.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MSFT
About Microsoft
(
Free Report)
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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