Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,393 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,414 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 3.1% of Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Seek First Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,333,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, December 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Microsoft from $655.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $611.87.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched the Maia 200 AI inference chip, which the company says delivers roughly 30% better performance-per-dollar and will be deployed in U.S. data centers — a direct play on lowering inference costs, improving gross margins for Azure/Copilot, and reducing reliance on third-party GPUs. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side and independent analysts are broadly bullish ahead of Q2, forecasting strong Azure and AI adoption that could drive another “robust” quarter; several previews expect revenue and AI‑driven growth to beat or justify premium multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q2 earnings (Jan. 28) and the Fed meeting make this a volatile catalyst week — investors are focused on forward guidance and margins (not just trailing revenue), so the stock could swing on the tone of management’s commentary. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: some firms trimmed targets (Bank of America lowered its PT), while others maintain buy/outperform ratings — this produces conflicting near‑term signals despite a generally bullish long‑term view. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk: a class‑action suit targets an AI hiring tool (Eightfold) used by Microsoft and others, raising headline risk around AI product governance and potential reputational/legal costs. Read More.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $470.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $477.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $500.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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 company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’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 completion of 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).