Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 31.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,175 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 22,183 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.2% of Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $45,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSFT. IRON Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 23.2% during the third quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the third quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during 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. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during 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. Finally, Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman revealed a new multi-billion-dollar stake in Microsoft (MSFT), saying the company looks attractively valued and highlighting Azure, Microsoft 365, and AI as key growth drivers. Reuters: Ackman’s Pershing Square takes stake in Microsoft, citing ‘compelling’ valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continued to argue that Microsoft’s AI infrastructure, Azure growth, and OpenAI exposure could support further upside, with some seeing the stock’s weaker recent performance as a buying opportunity. TipRanks: Microsoft Buy Rating Reiterated as AI and Cloud Momentum Builds
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also announced a board addition, appointing former EY chief Carmine Di Sibio to its board of directors, which is a governance update but not an immediate operating catalyst. PR Newswire: Microsoft announces appointment of Carmine Di Sibio to board of directors
• Negative Sentiment: The UK opened an antitrust probe into Microsoft’s business software and cloud practices, creating a potential regulatory overhang for the stock. Reuters: UK opens antitrust probe into Microsoft’s business software
• Negative Sentiment: LinkedIn, a Microsoft-owned unit, announced 5% workforce cuts, reinforcing that the company is still trimming costs even as it ramps AI spending. Reuters: LinkedIn to lay off 5% of workforce amid tech industry cuts

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. China Renaissance dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $421.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $398.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $441.39. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

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).