Bellevue Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Bellevue Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 135,538 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,318 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 30.2% of Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Bellevue Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $65,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines 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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. 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 $395.28 and its 200-day moving average is $447.45. 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 16.68 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.00.

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).