Kera Capital Partners Inc. Raises Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Kera Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,257 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 8.3% during the third quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. now owns 590 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Touchstone Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at $12,387,000. Retirement Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 104.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 56,531 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,280,000 after buying an additional 28,875 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 204,701 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $106,025,000 after acquiring an additional 6,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,545 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $21,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,189 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management moves to accelerate AI sales — Microsoft promoted commercial sales leaders to shorten the customer feedback loop and speed enterprise AI adoption, which may help convert AI investments into revenue faster. Microsoft promotes sales leaders as company pursues AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and upgrades — Some brokers have reiterated buy/strong‑buy ratings and high price targets after the quarter, arguing the pullback presents a long‑term buying opportunity. That institutional backing can cushion further downside. Phillip Securities upgrade via Zacks
• Positive Sentiment: Product roadmap: Maia chip and AI cloud positioning — Microsoft is highlighting new AI hardware (Maia chip) and cloud AI capability expansion, reinforcing its competitive positioning in the AI stack. If deployments monetize, this supports longer‑term growth. Microsoft highlights Maia chip launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Hardware cycle signal — Market signals (e.g., SanDisk strength) point to an edge AI hardware refresh that benefits OEMs and infrastructure suppliers; Microsoft could benefit indirectly via Azure demand but the primary winners may be hardware vendors. The AI in a Box Trade: Hardware Is the Next Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: AI ecosystem deals highlight secular demand — Large partnerships in the cloud/AI space (e.g., Snowflake + OpenAI) validate ongoing enterprise AI spend, which is a positive structural tailwind for Microsoft’s cloud services even if near‑term economics are under pressure. Snowflake’s $200M Bet: Can The OpenAI Deal Fix the Slump?
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings reaction: growth vs. spending worries — Analysts and investors punished the stock after results: revenue/earnings beat but Azure growth cooled and management signaled heavy AI capex, raising concerns that spending will weigh on near‑term margins and guidance. That is the primary driver of today’s decline. Here’s Why Microsoft Fell After Earnings, Despite Beating Expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory risk in Europe — France and other European actors pushing native alternatives to Teams/Zoom underscore digital‑sovereignty headwinds that could slow enterprise adoption or create regional revenue pressure over time. France ditches Zoom and Teams for homegrown system
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target trims and insider selling amplify caution — Some firms trimmed targets and public filings show material insider sales; combined with high volume selling, this reinforces near‑term downward pressure despite long‑term bull cases. Analysts Cut Microsoft (MSFT) Price Targets

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $411.21 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $473.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $498.30. The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $450.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $597.73.

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).