Ketron Financial Purchases Shares of 38,155 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ketron Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 38,155 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $18,452,000. Microsoft accounts for approximately 6.1% of Ketron Financial’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $50,664,631,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in 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 worth $30,840,432,000 after buying an additional 49,618,571 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Microsoft by 908.5% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 23,568,250 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $11,398,077,000 after acquiring an additional 21,231,333 shares during the last quarter. 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

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Arete Research raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $515.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $379.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $412.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.58. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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).