Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Decreased by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lowered its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 17.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,780 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,777 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 1.2% of Essex LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Essex LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly beat — Microsoft reported $4.14 EPS and ~$81.3B revenue, topping consensus and reassuring investors on core demand. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations with $81.3B revenue
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI payoff — Microsoft recorded a ~$7.6B gain tied to OpenAI activity, which boosted non‑GAAP EPS and highlights monetization of its AI investments. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI last quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud momentum — Azure and Microsoft Cloud continued strong growth (reports cite large percentage gains and Microsoft Cloud topping ~$50B quarterly), supporting the longer-term AI/cloud thesis. Microsoft beats Q2 earnings as Azure jumps 39%
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure and long-term positioning — New Maia 200 AI chip rollout and approvals for more data centers support MSFT’s effort to control stack and reduce third‑party GPU exposure. Microsoft’s Maia 200: The Profit Engine AI Needs
• Neutral Sentiment: Guidance roughly in line but watched closely — Microsoft issued revenue guidance near the Street range (~$80.7B–$81.8B), leaving limited upside vs. elevated cloud expectations. See the company press materials for details. Microsoft earnings press release
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst activity — Some firms reiterated buys and raised targets (e.g., BNP Paribas/Raymond James), while others trimmed targets citing margin pressure; this produced divergent analyst reactions rather than a consensus swing. BNP Paribas raises price target
• Negative Sentiment: Record capex and AI hardware spending — Microsoft reported very large capital expenditures (well above some estimates), fueling investor concern about near‑term margin pressure and free‑cash‑flow timing. Microsoft drops after reporting record spending on AI hardware
• Negative Sentiment: Cloud growth expectations vs. reality — Headlines noting cloud growth “slowed” vs. sky‑high expectations and commentary that elevated cloud targets left limited upside helped trigger after‑hours selling. Microsoft edges past cloud growth expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Immediate market reaction — Despite the beat, traders sold after the report (several outlets flagged a sharp post‑earnings drop) as investors focused on capex, guidance nuance, and elevated expectations. Microsoft’s stock could see its sharpest post-earnings drop in over three years
• Negative Sentiment: Other headwinds — A few operational/competitive items (third‑party Xbox cancellations, France pulling back on videoconferencing contracts) were noted as marginal drags on sentiment. Microsoft slips on third-party Xbox game cancellations

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Microsoft from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $612.58.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $481.63 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $477.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $500.68. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).