Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s 2nd Largest Position

Spear Holdings RSC Ltd boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 61.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 281,400 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,900 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 8.2% of Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $145,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% in the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $401.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $458.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $491.45. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its sustainability leadership with two multi‑year carbon removal purchase deals totaling nearly 3 million tonnes, which bolsters ESG credentials and may support institutional demand from ESG‑focused investors. Microsoft Kicks Off 2026 With Flurry Of Large-Scale Carbon Removal Purchase Deals
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and media continue to list Microsoft among top AI investment plays (alongside Nvidia & Alphabet), reinforcing long‑term demand narratives for Azure and Copilot products. This supports the stock’s growth story even amid short‑term volatility. Best AI Stocks 2026: NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet Top the List
• Positive Sentiment: Large ETFs (including Vanguard funds) are positioned to capture the AI boom and include Microsoft, which can keep steady passive inflows into MSFT if AI optimism returns. 3 Vanguard ETFs Riding the AI Boom with Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tech Giants
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/market commentary sees potential post‑holiday recovery setups for major tech names, including MSFT, which is more a trading observation than a fundamentals change. MSFT, GOOG and AMZN Forecast – Major Tech Stocks Looking to Recover After President’s Day
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent hedge fund activity is mixed — some managers trimmed MSFT while others added to positions — indicating divergent institutional views but no clear one‑way pressure yet. (Examples include Sands Capital trimming and Maverick/Soros adding.) Sands Capital Management Trims Microsoft Stake, Sells 394,869 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Market anxiety from OpenAI’s large compute/backlog pledge has rippled to cloud partners; headlines suggest Oracle, Microsoft and Broadcom shares were hit on fears of elevated AI compute costs and margin pressure. OpenAI Backlog Shockwave: Are Investors Punishing Oracle, Microsoft And Broadcom Over Altman’s Trillion-Dollar Compute Bet?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor disappointment persists around Microsoft’s recent quarter: while results were broadly solid, several writeups note the company “fell short of expectations” on some metrics and that Copilot paying‑customer counts were smaller than hoped — factors driving short‑term selling. Investors Are Selling This AI Stock, but Is It Actually a Screaming Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Additional hedge‑fund stake reductions (e.g., Altarock’s large cut) add to near‑term selling pressure and reflect some managers de‑risking amid the broader software/AI pullback. Altarock Partners Cuts Massive 486,910‑Share Microsoft Stake

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

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).