Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Kercheville Advisors LLC

Kercheville Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,926 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,709 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 3.4% of Kercheville Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Kercheville Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Rothschild Redb cut shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $690.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $640.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $624.05.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $444.11 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $480.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $501.75. The company has a market cap of $3.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major industry and healthcare partnerships bolster MSFT’s commercial AI narrative — Bristol Myers Squibb will use Microsoft’s AI radiology tools to speed lung cancer detection, a commercial validation for Azure/AI revenue mix. Bristol Myers partners with Microsoft for AI-driven lung cancer detection
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise product integration: Board announced Board Agents built on Microsoft Foundry, signaling more platform-level demand for Azure agentic AI services. Board Collaborates with Microsoft to Bring Agentic AI Into the Core of Enterprise Planning
• Positive Sentiment: Marketplace and ISV ecosystem wins continue to expand commercial reach (Cobalt Teams integration, RKON Marketplace activity), supporting recurring revenue and GTM leverage. Cobalt Microsoft® Teams® Integration Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace®
• Positive Sentiment: Top analysts still see long-term upside — Goldman Sachs reiterated Buy and keeps a high price target, reflecting belief that AI + cloud growth offsets higher power/capex. Microsoft: Maintaining a Buy Rating as AI and Cloud Growth Offset Structurally Higher Power Costs
• Neutral Sentiment: TD Cowen trimmed its price target (from $655 to $625) but kept a Buy rating, noting Azure capacity constraints that may keep the stock range-bound before earnings. TD Cowen Sees Microsoft (MSFT) Shares Range-Bound Ahead of Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on MSFT’s upcoming earnings report on Jan. 28 — expectations are elevated, so results and commentary on Azure capacity/costs will likely drive near-term volatility. Dear Microsoft Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for January 28
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades/price-target cuts are weighing on sentiment — Rothschild & Co Redburn cut its PT to $450 and moved to Neutral, tightening near-term upside assumptions. Rothschild & Co Redburn adjusts price target on Microsoft to 450 from 500, maintains neutral rating
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s public warnings that AI could “lose social permission” if it burns energy without real-world benefits have raised regulatory/PR risk and highlighted rising energy/capex pressures for hyperscalers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Warns AI Could Lose ‘Social Permission’ If It Burns Energy Without Real-World Benefits In Health And Education
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Azure growth and forward guidance previously fell short of expectations — plus capacity constraints — are pressuring near-term growth multiple assumptions. Microsoft (MSFT) Traded Lower as Its Reported Azure Cloud Growth and Forward Guidance Fell Short of Expectations

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).