Ebert Capital Management Inc. Takes $6.67 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ebert Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 13,788 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $6,668,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.3% of Ebert Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JSF Financial LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. JSF Financial LLC now owns 16,503 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $7,981,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the period. EWA LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. EWA LLC now owns 18,495 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,686 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,755,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 788,473 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $381,321,000 after acquiring an additional 76,636 shares during the period. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 18,160 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,782,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is 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 Build announcements suggest it is broadening its AI platform with proprietary models and agentic tools, which could reduce reliance on OpenAI and improve margins over time.
• Positive Sentiment: New partnerships and integrations with Nvidia, healthcare groups like Mayo Clinic, and third-party enterprise tools expand Microsoft’s ecosystem and may support future cloud demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor commentary remains constructive, with several reports arguing that Microsoft’s AI opportunity and Azure growth still look underappreciated. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s quantum-computing update and AI infrastructure ambitions are long-term catalysts, but they are not expected to contribute meaningfully to near-term earnings. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors appear to be taking profits after the Build rally and remain cautious about Microsoft’s heavy AI spending and execution risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff’s disclosed share sale may add to short-term sentiment pressure, even though the transaction was relatively small compared with his remaining holdings. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT stock opened at $427.34 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $405.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $432.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 29,083 shares of company stock worth $12,710,152 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).