Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s Largest Position

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,891 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,617 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 15.0% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after acquiring an additional 90,533,328 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy and a $655 price target, highlighting Microsoft’s advantaged position in the AI stack and projecting material EPS upside — a major bullish institutional endorsement that can support the stock over time. Goldman Sachs coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is partnering on AI-enabled gene-therapy research with NVIDIA and academic groups — a signal that Azure + AI partnerships are expanding into new, high-value markets beyond core cloud and productivity. FT: AI breakthrough for gene therapies
• Positive Sentiment: Reported December data shows a meaningful drop in MSFT short interest (about a 20% decline from mid-December), which reduces immediate downside pressure from short-covering events and indicates fewer bearish bets. (Market data)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo kept an Outperform/Overweight stance on MSFT even after trimming its target — a mixed analyst signal that supports the long-term case while recognizing near-term valuation/expense concerns. Wells Fargo note
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces highlight new revenue plays (e.g., Copilot Checkout for retail and positioning as a “trusted operating system” for enterprise commerce) — product-led upside that may take time to monetize and thus is a medium-term positive but not an immediate catalyst. MarketWatch: software comeback
• Negative Sentiment: President Trump said Microsoft will make “major changes” this week to ensure consumers don’t shoulder higher electricity costs from AI data centers — language that introduces political/regulatory risk and the possibility the company could face constraints or added costs related to data-center expansion. Reuters: Trump on data-center power costs
• Negative Sentiment: Rumors of large layoffs (11k–22k) circulated and prompted executive pushback; even when denied, such rumors can weigh on sentiment and raise concerns about restructuring costs or execution risk. FastCompany: layoff rumors response
• Negative Sentiment: Spence Asset Management reduced its MSFT stake, a small but visible instance of institutional selling that can add to intraday pressure when combined with the other negatives. TipRanks: fund cuts stake

Microsoft Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $477.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $487.34 and a 200-day moving average of $503.65. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend 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%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Redburn Partners set a $560.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and set a $500.00 target price (down previously from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Arete Research increased their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

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).