North Star Investment Management Corp. Decreases Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

North Star Investment Management Corp. lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,835 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,782 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 3.1% of North Star Investment Management Corp.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $48,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 155.7% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $465.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a PEG 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. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $478.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $501.18.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New AI and robotics announcements — Microsoft unveiled robotics/agentic AI initiatives and pushed further into agentic AI for retail and frontline use, boosting enthusiasm that its product roadmap will translate into revenue from AI workloads. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Defense cloud contract — Microsoft won a sizable Air Force Cloud One task order (~$170M) that validates Azure’s position in government/defense spending and provides a tangible near‑term revenue win. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor reassessment of valuation — After recent weakness MSFT is seeing a rebound as analysts and market commentators highlight Microsoft’s relative growth, profitability and balance‑sheet strength versus software peers. That sentiment helped the stock move back up today. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaffirmations and mixed targets — Several firms (Jefferies, Guggenheim, UBS) kept Buy ratings even as many groups trimmed price targets; that leaves a mix of support and pressure in the tape heading into earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple price‑target cuts and downgrades — A wave of target trims (Cantor Fitzgerald, Wells Fargo adjustments, Rothschild/Redburn cuts and other downgrades) is adding selling pressure and keeps expectations muted into the Jan. 28 earnings print. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Service outages and security/privacy headlines — Recent widespread Microsoft 365/Outlook outages disrupted customers and raised reliability concerns; separate reports about providing BitLocker recovery keys to the FBI introduce potential reputational/privacy scrutiny. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $690.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Redburn Partners set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on Microsoft in a report on Friday, November 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $618.18.

Microsoft 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).