Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,794 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,103 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 1.8% of Ritholtz Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $92,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second 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 boosted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore reduced their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 target price (down previously from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $596.95.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and notes highlighting Microsoft’s relatively durable free cash flow versus other hyperscalers are soothing investors worried about AI capex. Why Microsoft’s Cash Flow Sets It Apart from Other Hyperscalers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s large, funded partner programs (notably the multibillion‑dollar IREN deal) are progressing — IREN secured financing and management says Microsoft prepayments/backing reduce execution risk for deploying AI capacity. That validates Microsoft’s ability to source external infrastructure without bearing all capex. IREN Earnings Were Ugly—Is a Beautiful Future Already Funded?
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional flows show some buyers stepping in (reported stake increases by managers), suggesting bargain hunting after the pullback. Manning & Napier Advisors boosts Microsoft stake
• Positive Sentiment: Government partnerships (UK deepfake detection) reinforce Microsoft’s regulatory/trust positioning for AI tools — a reputational plus that can support enterprise adoption. Britain to work with Microsoft to build deepfake detection system
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader hyperscaler capex is surging (reports of ~$700B combined spending), a structural trend that supports long‑term AI revenue but puts near‑term pressure on free cash flow across the group. Tech AI spending may approach $700 billion this year, but the blow to cash raises red flags
• Neutral Sentiment: Infrastructure market evolution (bitcoin miners pivoting to lease power to AI customers) creates more supplier options for Microsoft to scale capacity without owning all sites — strategic but execution‑dependent. The Great Pivot: Bitcoin Miners Are Becoming AI’s Landlords
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel’s rare downgrade (Hold) and analyst concern about Google/Anthropic competition for Azure weighed on sentiment earlier this week and triggered part of the sell‑off. Microsoft Stock Gets a Rare Downgrade. AI Competition Is Heating Up for Azure.
• Negative Sentiment: Specific execution worries — slower Copilot adoption and signs of softer Azure acceleration in the quarter — remain key risk points investors are watching; these were central to the post‑earnings sell‑off. Microsoft (MSFT) Stock: Should You Buy After 22% Plunge?
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/market psychology: an AI‑led rotation has erased large amounts of Big Tech market value, amplifying volatility for Microsoft even when fundamentals look mixed. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off

Microsoft Stock Up 1.9%

Microsoft stock opened at $401.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $468.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $496.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue 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 year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

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).