Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Sells 6,349 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 48.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,628 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,349 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 2.0% of Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $3,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 12,890 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 34.5% during the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 199,978 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $103,579,000 after buying an additional 51,324 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,359,000. Sequent Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 5,914 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 112,873 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,460,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $401.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $429.01 and a 200-day moving average of $476.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 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, June 11th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side support remains strong — several firms have reiterated buys/outperform and bullish price targets, which underpins long‑term investor confidence. William Blair reiterates Outperform on Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum — Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Health, agentic Copilot features across Office apps, and the new Microsoft 365 E7 AI bundle (adds Anthropic Claude Cowork, Agent 365, Entra), all of which support higher‑value commercial monetization and stickier cloud revenue. Copilot Health paves path to medical superintelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Social and trader sentiment is highlighting agentic Copilot and AI infrastructure leadership as reasons for near‑term support and potential upside if resistance breaks. Quiver Quant summary of Agentic Copilot buzz
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox roadmap and gaming hardware (Project Helix prototypes to developers in 2027) bolster long‑term diversification but have limited near‑term revenue impact. CNBC on Project Helix
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price targets remain elevated (median targets well above current levels) and institutional positioning is mixed — supportive for a medium‑term recovery but not an immediate catalyst. Zacks on analyst views
• Negative Sentiment: High and rising capital expenditures for AI data centers are a near‑term earnings headwind; investor letters and coverage flag capex intensity as a reason MSFT has underperformed peers despite strong top‑line growth. InsiderMonkey on data center capex concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change — Rajesh Jha, a senior exec tied to Office/Copilot rollouts, is retiring; markets tend to discount execution risk when key product leaders depart. Reuters on Rajesh Jha retirement
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/political risk — Microsoft’s public support for Anthropic in its legal fight with the Pentagon raises short‑term uncertainty around government contracting and could create customer/contract exposure. FT: Microsoft backs Anthropic vs Pentagon
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and market‑structure risk — rotation out of megacap tech and warnings about midterm‑year volatility are pressuring MSFT along with peers. Technical support levels around the recent pullback are being watched by traders. MarketBeat mid‑March market warning

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).