Sunbelt Securities Inc. Raises Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,672 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,283 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.7% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $38,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management is consolidating Copilot product teams to unify commercial and consumer offerings, appointing Jacob Andreou to lead the effort — a move aimed at faster product coherence and adoption that should help monetize Copilot across enterprise and consumer segments. Microsoft unifies Copilot teams (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage highlight that Microsoft is increasingly monetizing AI beyond raw infrastructure — growing Copilot subscription revenue and Agent 365 updates that expand enterprise spend on AI, supporting Azure revenue growth. Wall Street Is Wrong About This AI Cloud Stock (Fool)
• Positive Sentiment: Talent and partnerships: Microsoft hired the Cove AI collaboration team and continues research collaborations (e.g., MediaTek on data?center optics), signaling continued investment in AI/IP and infrastructure efficiency. These moves support long?term competitiveness in cloud and model building. Microsoft hires Cove team (TechCrunch)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wider market weakness in technology is weighing on MSFT along with mixed investor commentary and options activity; some investors highlight long?term strength while others flag valuation and capex concerns. Sector Update: Tech Stocks Retreat (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly weighing legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a reported $50B OpenAI–Amazon cloud deal that could erode Microsoft’s preferential relationship with OpenAI — a high?stakes dispute that threatens Azure competitive advantages and future model access. Microsoft weighs legal action over Amazon?OpenAI deal (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Security risk: U.S. agencies advised companies to harden Microsoft’s endpoint management tool after the Stryker medical?device cyberattack, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in enterprise management tooling and potential remediation costs or reputational impact. US agency advisory after Stryker cyberattack (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution scrutiny: Critical coverage and commentary about reassignments within Microsoft’s AI leadership and product performance versus competitors (claims of product lag) may amplify short?term investor concern about execution and timing to close gaps with rivals. Microsoft reshuffles AI team (FT)

Microsoft Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $391.79 on Thursday. 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 cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $422.59 and a 200-day moving average of $473.71. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton bought 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, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value 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 trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. 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).