Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Has $23.40 Million Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,176 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.8% of Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Short-term AI worry eased after comments from Anthropic that tempered fears about AI displacing enterprise software, giving MSFT shares an immediate lift. Microsoft Stock Climbs After AI Fears Ease on Anthropic’s Comments
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its global connectivity push via a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink (Orbital AI access), which supports Azure edge/sovereign-cloud use cases and broadens market reach in underserved regions. Microsoft and SpaceX’s Starlink partner on global community internet effort
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying and technical oversold signals were highlighted by market commentators, supporting a narrative that the recent pullback may be overdone and attracting value buyers. Microsoft Is Sliding—An Insider Buy and Oversold Signals Are Changing the Setup
• Positive Sentiment: The White House invited major cloud/AI players including Microsoft to a power-cost pledge, a policy development that could ease data‑center energy risk and improve investor confidence around operating costs. White House to host Big Tech in pledge to rein in power costs
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is among strategic backers of autonomous‑driving firm Wayve’s latest funding round — a signal of continued venture activity and ecosystem bets, but limited near‑term revenue impact. Nvidia, Microsoft back self-driving firm Wayve as it hits $8.6 billion valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership changes in Xbox (Asha Sharma replacing Phil Spencer) tie gaming more directly to Microsoft’s AI/cloud strategy — strategically relevant but unlikely to move near-term financials materially. Microsoft Gaming Shift As Asha Sharma Reshapes Xbox And AI Role
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s Fair Trade Commission reportedly raided Microsoft Japan over suspected anti‑monopoly issues tied to Azure — a regulatory probe that could create legal costs, business disruption or reputational risk if escalated. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law, Nikkei says
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile critics and media voices (e.g., Jim Cramer) called for a “refresh” at Microsoft, adding negative narrative pressure amid the stock’s selloff and keeping sentiment fragile. Microsoft (MSFT) Needs a Refresh, Says Jim Cramer
• Negative Sentiment: Michael Burry’s public accusation about aggressive accounting at big tech (including MSFT) can amplify worries about transparency and AI‑capex accounting, potentially weighing on sentiment if the narrative gains traction. Michael Burry Warns MSFT, GOOG, META Are Using ‘Sinister’ Accounting To Hide AI Costs

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $400.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $447.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $485.30.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush cut their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Company 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).