Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC Acquires 11,714 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 117,913 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 11,714 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.9% of Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $57,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. New Street Research reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.88.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas sees significant upside potential for Microsoft, citing strong AI demand, more than 25 million expected paid Copilot seats, and Azure growth that could stay above 40%. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has taken a large Microsoft position, which some investors view as a vote of confidence in the long-term AI thesis. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to argue Microsoft remains a strong long-term AI beneficiary, with some saying recent weakness may be creating an attractive entry point. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s recent earnings beat was solid, but the stock has remained weak since the post-earnings sell-off, suggesting investors are focused more on forward guidance and AI spending than last quarter’s results. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also benefiting from broader AI ecosystem news, including new products and governance tools built around Microsoft Foundry, which supports the company’s enterprise AI platform narrative. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several pieces question whether Microsoft’s AI infrastructure spending is becoming too costly, with criticism centered on “compute” expenses and possible margin pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft was also the subject of a bearish Seeking Alpha note warning that its planned AI infrastructure spending could weigh on returns and valuation. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines highlight that major holders such as the Gates Foundation have exited Microsoft, adding to investor concern about shifting sentiment among large shareholders. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, 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 value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $416.03 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $400.12 and a 200 day moving average of $435.60. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Microsoft Company 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).