Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Buys 1,567 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,504 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,567 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.4% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $17,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s 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 in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Arete Research increased their price objective on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.28.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $414.22 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $472.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $497.71. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large investor and analyst support — Davis Selected Advisers added to its MSFT position, signaling institutional buying at current levels. Davis Selected Advisers boosts Microsoft stake
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/price‑target upside persists — coverage pieces note average upside targets well above current prices (one aggregation cites a ~605 average target), which supports the buy‑the‑dip narrative. Microsoft Stock Trades at $411, Showing Potential Upside of $605 Average Target
• Positive Sentiment: Major broker support remains — several firms have reiterated Outperform/Buy ratings after the results, keeping analyst conviction that MSFT is a long‑term AI winner. RBC Capital reiterates Outperform on Microsoft
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation & momentum check — recent writeups reassess Microsoft after a multi‑year run and the post‑earnings pullback, useful for investors deciding if the pullback is a buying opportunity or a reset. Assessing Microsoft (MSFT) Valuation After Multi Year Gains And Recent Momentum Shift
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership moves in security & sales — Microsoft reshuffled security leadership (bringing back Hayete Gallot) and promoted sales leaders under its commercial CEO to accelerate AI sales execution; these are governance/execution items investors will track for remediation of past breaches and faster customer feedback. Microsoft brings back Hayete Gallot to run cybersecurity, as Charlie Bell takes new role
• Negative Sentiment: Product adoption and UX problems — reporting shows Microsoft’s pivotal AI/chatbot offerings are struggling with user adoption and engagement, a warning that commercial AI monetization may be harder and slower than hoped. Microsoft’s Pivotal AI Product Is Running Into Big Problems
• Negative Sentiment: Copilot adoption weakness — data indicates Copilot adoption has slipped (reported ~11.5%), raising concerns about customer uptake, branding/confusion and the timeline to meaningful enterprise revenue from Copilot‑style products. Microsoft Stock May Face Hurdles as Copilot Adoption Slips to 11.5% & Competition Intensifies
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings nuance — while MSFT beat overall EPS, reports highlighted cloud revenue that missed expectations and sharply higher capital expenditures, which helped trigger the post‑earnings selloff and keeps short‑term pressure on the stock. Microsoft: capital expenditures soar, cloud revenue falls short

About Microsoft

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).