Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

KCM Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 298,472 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,335 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 4.6% of KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $144,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC now owns 97,421 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,115,000 after buying an additional 6,072 shares during the period. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cladis Investment Advisory LLC now owns 11,098 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,367,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $1,157,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 323,967 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $156,798,000 after acquiring an additional 39,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E6 Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $738,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories 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.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.74 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $411.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $428.64.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

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).