Darwin Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,693 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Darwin Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,006 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 1.6% of Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $483.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $489.86 and a 200-day moving average of $503.84.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank reaffirmed a Buy rating on Microsoft, which supports investor confidence and can buoy the stock ahead of results. Scotiabank Keeps Their Buy Rating on Microsoft (MSFT)
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic is pursuing a huge new funding round (reportedly $10B at a ~$350B valuation) separate from the $15B pledges by Nvidia and Microsoft — this underscores MSFT’s deepening strategic exposure to big AI winners and supports long-term AI upside. Anthropic Aims to Nearly Double Valuation in New Funding Round
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI (Microsoft-backed) launched ChatGPT Health, expanding AI use cases into healthcare — a high-value, enterprise-facing market that can drive Azure usage and product stickiness. OpenAI Pushes Deeper into Health Care with New ChatGPT Health Feature
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot’s high‑profile placement (calls tied to Super Bowl 60) and a new Azure-powered deal with Hexagon for humanoid factory robots deliver positive PR and concrete enterprise use cases that can help user/adoption metrics. Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Jumps as Copilot Calls Super Bowl 60 Microsoft, Hexagon Put Humanoid Robots On Factory Floors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft set its quarterly earnings release date — an upcoming report is a direct catalyst that often increases trading volume and volatility as investors position around Azure/Copilot results. Microsoft announces quarterly earnings release date
• Neutral Sentiment: Large option trades (“market whales”) were active in MSFT — heavy option flow can amplify intraday moves but is ambiguous on direction until positions are netted out. Market Whales and Their Recent Bets on MSFT Options
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage debate over valuation — several pieces (Forbes, valuation analyses) argue Microsoft may be expensive at current multiples, which can limit upside and encourage profit‑taking despite strong fundamentals. Is Microsoft Stock Expensive?
• Negative Sentiment: Repeated media reports and rumors that Microsoft is planning thousands of job cuts (estimates vary widely) create near‑term uncertainty and headline risk; while cuts could boost margins later, they typically pressure sentiment on the news. Microsoft (MSFT) Is Rumored to Be Planning Thousands of Job Cuts as AI Spending Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about gaming market stagnation and AI’s impact on game development raised in industry pieces could weigh on Xbox/consumer-revenue sentiment for investors focused on that segment. 2025’s Most Popular Games Raise Concerns for Sony, Microsoft (MSFT) & Nintendo (NTDOF)

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).