Sowell Financial Services LLC Grows Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144,741 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,450 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.6% of Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $70,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. IRON Financial LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Melius Research set a $430.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 price objective (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 price objective (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $659.00 to $556.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $577.58.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft brought its Fairwater AI data center online ahead of schedule, a flagship facility Nadella called “the world’s most powerful” — supports MSFT’s edge in AI infrastructure and capacity expansion. Satya Nadella Praises ‘World’s Most Powerful’ AI Datacenter Going Live Early
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is partnering with Accenture on an “agentic factory” AI system and appears to be deepening enterprise AI partnerships — this should drive cloud/AI services demand and long-term ARR expansion. Accenture’s New Agentic Factory System Debuts With Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Adobe expanded its AI ecosystem and signed integrations with Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI and Nvidia — a vote of confidence in MSFT’s platform relevance and partner momentum. Adobe (ADBE) Inks Partnership with Microsoft (MSFT), Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia (NVDA)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors are focused on Microsoft’s April 29 fiscal Q3 report; Evercore reiterates Buy and frames the quarter as “survive and advance,” so near-term volatility may hinge on guidance. Here’s What Evercore Expects from Microsoft’s Q3 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector theme: massive corporate capex into AI data centers is boosting infrastructure spending but not hiring — positive for hyperscalers’ capex-driven revenue opportunities, though it raises scrutiny on margin mix. AI data center spending is booming. Jobs aren’t. Here’s why
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary highlights both downside pressure (YTD drawdown) and contrarian buy cases; Zacks and other outlets flag MSFT as a hyperscaler to watch for AI-quantum upside. Top 2 AI-Quantum Hyperscalers to Watch in April With 20%+ Price Upside
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s stock has underperformed the broader market today and this week as investors price in increased competition from new AI tools (e.g., Anthropic/Claude variants, xAI Grok plugins) that could pressure software volumes or product mix. Here’s Why Microsoft (MSFT) Fell More Than Broader Market
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts and caution: TD Cowen and others have trimmed targets, and Bank of America reset forecasts ahead of earnings — sentiment and lower targets add near-term selling pressure. Bank of America resets Microsoft stock forecast ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/sovereign risk: reports that Switzerland is reconsidering reliance on Microsoft raised headlines about potential contract/market risks in Europe. “Reduce Its Dependency on Microsoft”: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slips as Switzerland Reconsiders
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about AI disruption to legacy products persists — several outlets debate whether new agentic AI offerings will cannibalize Microsoft’s traditional software revenue. Should You Sell Microsoft (MSFT) on AI Disruption Fears?

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.1%

MSFT opened at $418.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $391.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.88. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $355.67 and a 52 week high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

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).