Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd’s 3rd Largest Position

Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,705 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 7,628 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 4.3% of Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $18,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 672,530 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $325,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,380 shares in the last quarter. ArchPoint Investors grew its position in Microsoft by 129.7% during the fourth quarter. ArchPoint Investors now owns 7,457 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,606,000 after buying an additional 4,211 shares in the last quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP grew its position in Microsoft by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP now owns 8,899 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,304,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 824.3% during the fourth quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC now owns 5,999 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 5,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Jean Financial LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $1,325,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $411.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $428.95. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 21.67%.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reduced their target price on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Dbs Bank reduced their target price on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, China Renaissance reduced their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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).