Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Lifted by Legacy Private Trust Co.

Legacy Private Trust Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 70,940 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 2.2% of Legacy Private Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $36,743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. PMV Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in the second quarter. PMV Capital Advisers LLC now owns 359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the second quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Red Mountain Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stores Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage point to improving AI economics — reports say Azure AI margins are positive and revenue is likely to beat estimates, supporting near-term earnings upside and giving investors confidence in cloud monetization. Azure AI margins article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in India — a large, long-term growth initiative that should expand Azure adoption and enterprise spending in a major emerging market. India investment article
• Positive Sentiment: New enterprise partnerships (Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro) and a Cognizant-led push to scale Microsoft 365/GitHub Copilot & agentic AI deployments could accelerate commercial adoption and drive higher software and Azure consumption. Partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined the U.S. “Genesis Mission” AI initiative alongside top AI firms — positioning MSFT to capture government and scientific AI spend and reinforcing strategic leadership in national AI programs. Genesis Mission article
• Positive Sentiment: Partner-channel and device news helped sentiment — LG’s reported backpedal on making Copilot mandatory drove a small positive knee-jerk move, easing concerns about forced integrations and signaling partner flexibility. LG Copilot article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary frames MSFT as a durable AI/dividend play — pieces highlighting dividend/long-term strength keep buy-and-hold narratives alive but are unlikely to move price materially on their own. MarketBeat dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-product updates (Office 2024 upgrade) and legacy product refreshes support steady software sales, but are lower-impact versus cloud/AI developments. Office 2024 article
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive — a direct headline that reinforces investor worries about rising capex and margin pressure as MSFT scales data centers and AI infrastructure. Cramer spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/tech jitters and commentary about “ballooning” capex have pressured the stock in recent weeks; that narrative could cap multiple expansion until evidence of durable margin recovery is clear. CapEx concerns article

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $485.92 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $499.78 and a 200 day moving average of $503.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

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).