Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,890 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.7% of Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 34.5% in the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 199,978 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $103,579,000 after buying an additional 51,324 shares in the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $10,359,000. Sequent Planning LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 5,914 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 112,873 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,460,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chapman Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Chapman Financial Group LLC now owns 13,585 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $401.86 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $429.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $476.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction 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 $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sell?side support remains strong — several firms have reiterated buys/outperform and bullish price targets, which underpins long?term investor confidence. William Blair reiterates Outperform on Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum — Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Health, agentic Copilot features across Office apps, and the new Microsoft 365 E7 AI bundle (adds Anthropic Claude Cowork, Agent 365, Entra), all of which support higher?value commercial monetization and stickier cloud revenue. Copilot Health paves path to medical superintelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Social and trader sentiment is highlighting agentic Copilot and AI infrastructure leadership as reasons for near?term support and potential upside if resistance breaks. Quiver Quant summary of Agentic Copilot buzz
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox roadmap and gaming hardware (Project Helix prototypes to developers in 2027) bolster long?term diversification but have limited near?term revenue impact. CNBC on Project Helix
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price targets remain elevated (median targets well above current levels) and institutional positioning is mixed — supportive for a medium?term recovery but not an immediate catalyst. Zacks on analyst views
• Negative Sentiment: High and rising capital expenditures for AI data centers are a near?term earnings headwind; investor letters and coverage flag capex intensity as a reason MSFT has underperformed peers despite strong top?line growth. InsiderMonkey on data center capex concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change — Rajesh Jha, a senior exec tied to Office/Copilot rollouts, is retiring; markets tend to discount execution risk when key product leaders depart. Reuters on Rajesh Jha retirement
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/political risk — Microsoft’s public support for Anthropic in its legal fight with the Pentagon raises short?term uncertainty around government contracting and could create customer/contract exposure. FT: Microsoft backs Anthropic vs Pentagon
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and market?structure risk — rotation out of megacap tech and warnings about midterm?year volatility are pressuring MSFT along with peers. Technical support levels around the recent pullback are being watched by traders. MarketBeat mid?March market warning

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).