Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Lessened by Northwest Capital Management Inc

Northwest Capital Management Inc reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 76.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,062 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 10,130 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.4% of Northwest Capital Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Northwest Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Top analyst price?target upgrades lift sentiment; one note cited ~60% upside to a new street?high target, supporting buy interest. Microsoft Stock Lands a New Street?High Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: An influential research shop lifted its price target materially (Arete to $870), signaling strong conviction that AI/cloud execution will drive long?term upside. Arete Research Boosts Microsoft Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results continue to show robust AI/cloud revenue growth and EPS beats, underpinning the bull case for durable top?line momentum. Microsoft Q3 Revenues Jump 18% on AI & Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying: Fisher Asset Management and other funds have increased stakes, which can provide support to the stock. Fisher Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox product pruning (Copilot discontinuation) trimmed consumer AI spend and was interpreted positively by some investors as discipline on unprofitable initiatives. Xbox Discontinues Copilot
• Neutral Sentiment: Street reaction is mixed: some firms trimmed targets but kept Buy ratings, reflecting split views on near?term capex vs. long?term AI growth. Here’s What the Street Thinks About Microsoft Post?Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Big AI data?center buildout is driving a large ($190B) capex guide and discussions about shelving Microsoft’s 2030 hourly clean?energy match target — a potential ESG/regulatory and reputational headwind. Microsoft May Shelve 2030 Clean Energy Target
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain uneasy about the size and timing of AI spending; some analysts warn margin pressure and elevated capex could weigh on near?term returns. Is Microsoft Stock an Undervalued Stock to Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Security concern: reports of a new hacker group exploiting Microsoft Teams add short?term risk around remediation costs and customer confidence in collaboration tools. New Hacker Group Exploits Teams

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, 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 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $562.44.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $420.93 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $396.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $445.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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).