Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 236,720 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 22,262 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 2.3% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $114,483,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $493,860,000 after buying an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management lifted its position in Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after buying an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

MSFT stock opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company’s 50 day moving average is $410.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $429.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. China Renaissance decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Arete Research increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $502.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s 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 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).