Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Trimmed by Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.

Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 89,075 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,897 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 16.2% of Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $46,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $452.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $488.33.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released 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. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi reiterated a Buy on Microsoft, highlighting continued Copilot adoption and strong Azure growth as reasons the company can outpace the recent sell-off. Microsoft in focus as Citi reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment among retail/institutional investors. Microsoft Director John Stanton Buys 5,000 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s extended OpenAI revenue arrangement (locking a meaningful share of OpenAI output through 2032) is a multi-year revenue and strategic moat tailwind for AI monetization. As Microsoft extends 20% OpenAI deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced a large long-term commitment to expand AI access in the Global South (reported ~$50B), a growth opportunity that also implies heavy multi-year capex and execution risk. Microsoft to invest $50B in Global South AI push
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships and marketplace traction (e.g., CrowdStrike on Microsoft Marketplace) reinforce enterprise ecosystem stickiness but have limited immediate revenue impact. Falcon on Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change in gaming: Phil Spencer’s immediate retirement and replacement by Asha Sharma introduces near-term uncertainty for Xbox strategy and investor confidence in the gaming unit. Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer retires
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgraded MSFT (Buy?Hold) and cut its price target, citing Azure supply constraints as a near-term growth headwind — a concrete analyst call that can pressure flows and justify further volatility. Stifel flags Azure supply constraints
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh AI quality/security reports (Copilot/Office bug and “AI recommendation poisoning” threats) raise short-term adoption and reputational risk that could delay enterprise deployments and weigh on sentiment. AI recommendation poisoning concerns

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

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).