SlateStone Wealth LLC Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 91,580 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.7% of SlateStone Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total value of $1,031,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,434,201.60. The trade was a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 19,262 shares of company stock valued at $8,695,581 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are showing bullish sentiment toward Microsoft, with unusually heavy buying in long-dated call options suggesting some traders expect upside from here. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its cash-generation and shareholder-return profile. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MN8 Energy said two solar projects totaling 260 MW are now online under long-term power purchase agreements with Microsoft, supporting its AI/data-center infrastructure needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding AI and cloud partnerships, including new agentic AI collaborations and Copilot-related deployments, which supports the long-term growth narrative but also underscores ongoing AI spending pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure unit in China, highlighting regulatory friction and weaker operating conditions in a key market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Xbox is planning major layoffs and budget cuts next month are adding to concerns about slower growth and restructuring costs in Microsoft’s gaming division. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also limiting employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data-retention concerns, a reminder of the risks and competitive tensions around AI tools and partners. Article Title

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average is $410.24 and its 200-day moving average is $429.80. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) 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. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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).