SlateStone Wealth LLC Has $44.29 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 91,580 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of SlateStone Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MSFT. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. New Street Research decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are showing bullish sentiment toward Microsoft, with unusually heavy buying in long-dated call options suggesting some traders expect upside from here. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its cash-generation and shareholder-return profile. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MN8 Energy said two solar projects totaling 260 MW are now online under long-term power purchase agreements with Microsoft, supporting its AI/data-center infrastructure needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding AI and cloud partnerships, including new agentic AI collaborations and Copilot-related deployments, which supports the long-term growth narrative but also underscores ongoing AI spending pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure unit in China, highlighting regulatory friction and weaker operating conditions in a key market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Xbox is planning major layoffs and budget cuts next month are adding to concerns about slower growth and restructuring costs in Microsoft’s gaming division. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also limiting employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data-retention concerns, a reminder of the risks and competitive tensions around AI tools and partners. Article Title

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total value of $1,031,125.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,434,201.60. This represents a 4.59% 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, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,262 shares of company stock worth $8,695,581. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $397.36 on Thursday. 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $410.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $429.80. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

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).