Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Lee Financial Co

Lee Financial Co increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,342 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,381 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.2% of Lee Financial Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Lee Financial Co’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $9,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.8% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 330,434 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $171,148,000 after buying an additional 15,272 shares during the period. CWS Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the third quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,021 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,334,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 18,632 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,648,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV raised its position in Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV now owns 11,631 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,024,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 121,033 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $62,689,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSFT. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Microsoft from $660.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $392.74 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $483.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).