Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 131,115 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,208 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.1% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $63,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

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

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reworked OpenAI deal and new AI research direction could accelerate Microsoft’s roadmap and narrow model gaps with competitors, supporting long?term revenue upside. Microsoft Is on a New AI Journey After Reworked OpenAI Deal
• Positive Sentiment: A leaked OpenAI cap table highlights a large paper gain on Microsoft’s investment (reported ~17x), underscoring potential balance?sheet/earnings upside tied to OpenAI exposure. OpenAI Cap Table Leak Reveals Microsoft’s 17x Windfall While Sam Altman Holds Zero Equity
• Positive Sentiment: Product strategy: Microsoft is shifting Copilot toward a multi?model, agentic approach — a move that could improve enterprise adoption and monetization if execution follows. Microsoft Is Going Multi-Model with Copilot. Does the Enterprise King Win Again?
• Neutral Sentiment: Channel ecosystem: Ingram Micro earning Microsoft’s “Frontier Distributor” status reinforces partner distribution for Copilot/AI solutions — supportive but indirect to near?term revenue. Is Ingram Micro (INGM) Using Microsoft’s Frontier Status To Redefine Its AI Distribution Moat?
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context: Pieces arguing for defensive/utility exposure and analysts calling Microsoft a value opportunity explain headline flows but are less likely to drive immediate price moves. Is This ETF the Safest Way to Benefit From AI?
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/security risk: Iran’s IRGC publicly threatened the $30B “Stargate” AI project backed by OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia — a direct risk to infrastructure, project timelines and investor sentiment. Iran’s IRGC Targets $30 Billion Stargate Project Backed by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Nvidia
• Negative Sentiment: Security concerns: A DeepMind paper maps how autonomous agents can be hijacked; tests show successful data exfiltration against Microsoft M365 Copilot — a potential liability for enterprise trust and adoption. Deepmind’s ‘AI Agent Traps’ Paper Maps How Hackers Could Weaponize AI Agents Against Users
• Negative Sentiment: Execution skepticism: Analysis of 84 earnings calls argues Satya Nadella’s AI rhetoric outpaces measurable financial results, feeding short?term doubts about revenue conversion from AI hype. Microsoft’s 84 Earnings Calls Reveal AI Reality Check As Nadella’s Words Outpace Results

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $373.46 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $400.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $462.28. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC decreased their target price on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.97.

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).