Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Raised by Busey Bank

Busey Bank raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 487,636 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,129 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 6.2% of Busey Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Busey Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $235,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 962,834 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $465,627,000 after purchasing an additional 12,933 shares during the last quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,444 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,116,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,682 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Tred Avon Family Wealth LLC now owns 25,256 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,214,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,286 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,864 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush reaffirmed Microsoft as an outperform and kept a $575 price target, while Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to buy with a $485 target, underscoring Wall Street’s continued optimism about Microsoft’s long-term AI and cloud growth. Benzinga report
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Microsoft as a top long-term or “battered” software stock, with some investors seeing the pullback as an opportunity to buy a dominant franchise at a more attractive valuation. 247WallSt article
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly looking at startup acquisitions to reduce dependence on OpenAI, which could be a strategic positive over time but also signals that the current partnership is not viewed as fully secure. Reuters article
• Neutral Sentiment: LinkedIn plans to cut about 5% of its workforce as part of a restructuring, which may support margins but also reflects caution across Microsoft’s broader business. Reuters/Invezz article
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing testimony in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is putting Microsoft’s role in OpenAI under a microscope, reviving concerns about governance, reliance on OpenAI, and possible legal or reputational overhang. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are worried that Microsoft’s AI capex is rising faster than the market can justify, with articles warning that the company must prove a timely return on its AI investments to sustain the stock’s premium. Motley Fool article

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $405.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $397.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $442.33. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.88.

Microsoft Company 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).