1,262 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Bought by Liberty Atlantic Advisors LLC

Liberty Atlantic Advisors LLC bought a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,262 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $610,000. Microsoft comprises about 0.6% of Liberty Atlantic Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after buying an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled new in-house AI models at Build, including MAI-Code-1 and MAI-Thinking-1, signaling it is reducing reliance on OpenAI and Anthropic while lowering costs for developers.
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced Microsoft Scout, an always-on personal agent for Microsoft 365, and other agentic AI tools, reinforcing the view that Microsoft is expanding its AI monetization opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia deepened their partnership on AI PCs and agentic computing across Windows and Azure, which investors viewed as a major catalyst for the Windows ecosystem and future hardware/software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also highlighted its quantum computing progress with the Majorana 2 chip, adding to the company’s long-term innovation narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts and media reports remained constructive, with commentary pointing to strong Azure upside, AI demand, and a favorable long-term valuation case for MSFT.
• Neutral Sentiment: Build 2026 generated broad attention across the market, but some reports noted Microsoft teased a Copilot “Super App” without fully unveiling it, which may have tempered expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: Judson Althoff sold 15,500 Microsoft shares in an SEC-disclosed transaction, which can create short-term investor concern even though the sale was relatively modest versus his remaining holdings.
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage cited profit-taking and concerns about capital intensity, margin pressure, and a possible AI policy overhang, helping explain the pullback despite the positive product news.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $441.31 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $403.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $433.78. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid 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 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 29,083 shares of company stock worth $12,710,152 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore dropped their price target on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. Forty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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).