Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $1.95 Billion Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,755,922 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,163 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 3.8% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,945,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at BNP and others say OpenAI’s large new funding round should still benefit Microsoft because of its deep Azure and infrastructure ties — a reminder that MSFT remains a key AI partner and infrastructure provider. OpenAI’s massive funding round should benefit Microsoft, Oracle: BNP
• Positive Sentiment: An insider (director Stanton John) bought roughly $2M of MSFT stock, signalling confidence from management-level insiders during the pullback. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat / Altimetry note that Microsoft is “at the center of AI” with high switching costs and under-appreciated fundamentals — an argument that current valuation weakness is sentiment-driven and could reverse. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers, 2 Experts Explain
• Positive Sentiment: Dynamics 365 business applications continue to post solid mid-teens to high?teens growth and are cited as a consistent driver of Productivity & Business Processes revenue — a durable growth stream beyond Azure. Can Microsoft Stock Rally on Dynamics 365 Business Applications?
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced its next quarterly dividend payable March 13 — a steady income signal but unlikely to move the stock materially amid the current narrative-driven trading. Microsoft to pay dividends on March 13; Here’s how much 100 MSFT shares will earn
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction to OpenAI’s announcement cut both ways: Microsoft wasn’t named among some of the latest funding/partner headlines, prompting investor worry about its standing with OpenAI and driving selling pressure. What’s Behind The Drop In Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s authorities carried out a raid tied to suspected antitrust issues around Microsoft’s cloud business, raising regulatory risk in a major market. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law, source says
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/real?estate headwinds: reports of data center/building delays and related execution noise have been cited as a near-term drag on sentiment. “On Hold Until Further Notice”: Microsoft Stock Slumps With Building Delay
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI-capex and semiconductor market jitters (Nvidia-centric weakness) are depressing the megacap tech complex; investors are weighing heavy industry capex against margins and balance-sheet strain. That macro pressure is spilling over to Microsoft. Nvidia Fails to Reassure—Heard on the Street

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $392.74 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $483.82.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft 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).