Define Financial LLC Buys 1,262 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Define Financial LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 45.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,059 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,262 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.3% of Define Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Define Financial LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI/data-engineering deal — Microsoft acquired Seattle data‑engineering startup Osmos to automate data pipelines, strengthening Azure’s data and AI stack and supporting enterprise adoption of “autonomous data engineering.” This is a clear product/capability positive for long‑term cloud and AI revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Big investor interest — Peter Thiel’s Thiel Macro built a large new position in Microsoft in Q3, signaling conviction from a high‑profile investor and potentially drawing other allocators to MSFT. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness — prominent analysts (e.g., Dan Ives/Wedbush) call 2026 an “inflection” year for Microsoft and RBC reiterated its buy rating, underpinning buy‑side confidence and supporting higher price targets. Read More. | Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive narrative reinforcement — several opinion pieces and newsletters are pushing Microsoft as a preferred AI play vs. competitors, which may support medium‑term flows but offers less immediate market impact than hard news. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism on AI leadership — traders are parsing Microsoft’s AI edge relative to Google, and that debate has pressured the stock as investors weigh differentiation, products, and margin risk in AI. This dynamic likely explains near‑term selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and social chatter — summaries of social media and insider activity show heavy insider sales (no recent buys) and mixed retail sentiment, which can sap confidence among momentum traders. Monitor insider activity disclosures for further market reaction. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/political risk — coverage that Microsoft (and McKinsey) helped fund a politically sensitive US “Davos” hub has drawn criticism; while not a core earnings issue, such PR events can prompt short‑term outflows from ESG‑sensitive funds. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Melius Research lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.03.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the 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 owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $472.85 on Tuesday. 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 market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $492.29 and a 200-day moving average of $503.98. 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, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

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).