Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,631,760 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 9,244 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.5% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,363,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 974,271 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $504,039,000 after acquiring an additional 17,572 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc raised its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 1,065,842 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $552,053,000 after purchasing an additional 18,507 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,643 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,923,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. TFR Capital LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.7% in the third quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 36,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,654,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. Finally, FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 12.5% in the third quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,436 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,923,000 after buying an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $398.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $489.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft locked in a long‑duration revenue arrangement with OpenAI (20% share extended through 2032), creating a sizeable, recurring cash‑flow channel tied to the AI leader — a clear structural upside for MSFT’s AI monetization thesis. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment after recent weakness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street / institutional interest: Morgan Stanley and other firms highlight MSFT as under‑owned and many hedge funds/institutions have added to positions or maintained positive ratings — supports potential inflows if risk appetite returns. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: ESG/operational: Microsoft commits to continue matching its electricity needs with renewable purchases as it scales data‑centers, lowering regulatory/ESG risk for long‑term investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Growth vs. capex trade: Microsoft says it’s on pace to invest ~$50B in AI across the Global South by 2030 — a large, long‑term market expansion but one that requires heavy upfront capex and multi‑year execution. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships/enterprise traction: CrowdStrike’s Falcon is now available on Microsoft Marketplace, which increases enterprise stickiness and could drive incremental marketplace revenue over time (limited immediate impact). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry moves (indirect effect): NVIDIA and Meta deepen their AI alliance and huge capex plans — this underscores relentless demand for compute but also signals competitors (Meta) spending to build infrastructure that could reduce future cloud demand. Implication for MSFT is mixed. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term selling and rotation: several pieces point to investor dumping and downgrades after a strong earnings beat — concerns that MSFT’s massive AI infrastructure spending will pressure near‑term margins have triggered profit‑taking and volatility. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Product/security jitters and sector pressure: reports of an Office/Copilot bug and research on “recommendation poisoning,” together with tech‑sector downgrades, amplify short‑term adoption and regulatory risk narratives. Read More. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

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).