Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Reduced by Mcrae Capital Management Inc.

Mcrae Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 63,734 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,129 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 6.3% of Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares in the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $410.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $429.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS 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 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares in the company, valued at $21,434,201.60. The trade was a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 19,262 shares of company stock worth $8,695,581 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $525.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Evercore lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.20.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

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

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).