Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 1,792 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 129,222 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,792 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 7.6% of Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $66,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Arete Research lifted their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Baird R W raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Goldman Sachs and other firms reiterated bullish views (Buy/strong‑buy) citing Azure-led AI growth and compounding AI product cycles, which supports upside to MSFT valuation. Goldman Sachs coverage
• Positive Sentiment: New product / commercial traction: Microsoft is pushing agentic AI (Copilot Checkout, agentic retail automation) and expanding partner deployments (SymphonyAI, Fiserv), which can drive monetization across Microsoft 365 and Azure. Copilot retail initiatives
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise demand signal: CIO and sell‑side surveys still point to Microsoft as a top beneficiary of rising IT/AI budgets — a structural tailwind for Azure and Copilot monetization. CIO survey / analyst notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Community‑first data‑center plan: Microsoft pledged to cover higher electricity costs, replenish water and pay local taxes to avoid community backlash — positive PR and long‑term permit facilitation, but with unclear near‑term cost impact. Data center initiative
• Neutral Sentiment: Strategic Anthropic usage: Microsoft is integrating Anthropic models into products (a potential diversification of model supply), which could improve product performance but also shifts vendor exposure. Anthropic integration report
• Negative Sentiment: Rising AI vendor spend: Reports MSFT may spend ~ $500M/year on Anthropic models raise concern about higher operating/variable AI costs and margin pressure if revenue realization lags. Anthropic spending concern
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/rotation pressure: Tech re‑rating and Fed/rate uncertainty are prompting a growth‑to‑value rotation that disproportionately hurts large AI‑growth names like Microsoft. That broader market dynamic is a major near‑term headwind. Growth-to-value rotation
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive / sentiment hits: Alphabet’s rally (and other AI partnership headlines) and criticisms around Windows quality in niche areas have weighed on MSFT momentum, contributing to today’s larger decline vs. the broader market. Competitive pressure note

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $459.38 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $485.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $503.16. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a PEG ratio of 1.76 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.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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 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 analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. 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 currently 25.89%.

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).