Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is HF Advisory Group LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1,922.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 258,798 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 245,999 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.7% of HF Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $125,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein’s Mark Moerdler says MSFT may be “bottoming” and is a good entry as AI/capex investments should start to pay off; that bullish analyst framing is supporting investor confidence. Why one analyst believes Microsoft’s stock may be bottoming out
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft confirmed a $10 billion AI infrastructure expansion in Japan — a large, explicit capex commitment that underpins future Azure capacity and revenue potential in Asia. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Affirms $10B AI Infrastructure Expansion in Japan
• Positive Sentiment: MSFT will rent 30,000 Nvidia chips from Nscale (Norway) — an operational step to increase AI compute capacity quickly without owning all hardware, easing near-term deployment bottlenecks. Microsoft will rent 30,000 Nvidia chips from Nscale in Norway deal; expands Wyoming ops
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is buying 3,200 acres in Wyoming for a new data‑center campus — another concrete sign it’s expanding physical cloud capacity to capture backlog demand for Azure/AI services. Microsoft’s (MSFT) Data Center Push Continues with New 3,200 Acre Wyoming Campus
• Neutral Sentiment: Flow of bullish media/analyst coverage and heavy call‑option activity suggest short-term momentum (investors positioning for a rebound), but these are sentiment signals rather than fundamental proofs. Microsoft (MSFT) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Competition/partnership risk: Anthropic is targeting Microsoft’s most popular app, and OpenAI’s internal pressure to expand beyond Microsoft (including ties to Amazon) raises the prospect of reduced exclusivity and slower AI revenue leverage. These rival moves create execution and moat risk. Anthropic quietly targets Microsoft’s most popular app
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/pricing pressure: Several firms have trimmed price targets (and some memos allege OpenAI constraints tied to Microsoft), keeping a cloud of uncertainty around valuation despite strong revenue growth. That keeps downside risk if capex squeezes margins longer than expected. Mizuho Trims Microsoft Price Target to $515: How Much Upside Is Left in This AI Titan?

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’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 value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $580.87.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3%

MSFT stock opened at $393.04 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $355.67 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $390.96 and its 200 day moving average is $455.67. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).