Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 179,893 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,889 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 9.3% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $87,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New reporting suggests Microsoft is still benefiting from strong AI demand, including ByteDance spending more than $1 billion annually on Azure AI services and broader commentary that Azure growth and AI run-rate remain major drivers of investor interest. Microsoft Builds $1 Billion-Plus AI Business With ByteDance
• Positive Sentiment: Several pieces argued Microsoft’s pullback may be creating a buying opportunity because the company still has strong cash flow, dividend growth, and discounted valuation relative to its AI prospects. Microsoft’s Boring Stock Story May Be Its Biggest Strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft also drew attention for product and ecosystem updates, including a possible PayPal integration for Xbox buy-now-pay-later checkout and new Teams features, but these are not likely near-term stock movers. Microsoft Sizes Up PayPal as Xbox Leak Exposes Buy Now Pay Later Plans
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced or promoted securities class actions tied to Microsoft, alleging investors were harmed by misleading AI/Copilot-related statements during the May 2025 to January 2026 period. These legal headlines can weigh on sentiment. Portnoy Law Firm Announces Class Action on Behalf of Microsoft Corporation Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Another negative overhang is the claim that Copilot functionality issues contributed to a sharp stock drop, reinforcing investor concerns about execution risk and AI spending efficiency. Investor Rights Alert: Microsoft Faces Securities Fraud Class Action after Copilot Issues
• Negative Sentiment: There is also renewed concern that Microsoft’s gaming strategy is under pressure, with coverage pointing to the Steam Machine and broader cost-cutting in gaming as threats to growth in that segment. The Biggest Threat to Microsoft’s Gaming Ambitions is the Steam Machine

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $379.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $412.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast 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, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $505.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. China Renaissance dropped their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.20.

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).