Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,062,030 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,980 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.7% of Arizona State Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,068,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Argent Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 15,466 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,248 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,775,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 4.5% during the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 11,463 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,937,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” 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, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $401.72 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $445.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $484.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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. 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 (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and AI strategists argue Microsoft is a core AI infrastructure winner — a driver for investor interest given Azure, identity/auth layers and high switching costs that position MSFT to benefit from AI-driven enterprise spending. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s new collaboration with Starlink signals expanded connectivity and potential Azure edge use cases (rural/remote customers), supporting cloud revenue optionality and positive sentiment around partnership-driven growth. Microsoft Is Teaming up With Starlink
• Positive Sentiment: An insider purchase (director John Stanton) added a small but visible vote of confidence after the post-earnings sell-off, which can support short-term sentiment and stabilize shares. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: The White House’s planned power-cost pledge with big cloud/data-center firms (including Microsoft) reduces one operational risk for hyperscalers and could be a modest long-term positive for data-center economics, though timing/implementation remain uncertain. White House to host Big Tech pledge
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s public comments pushing back on low-quality “AI slop” reflect management trying to shape the narrative around responsible, enterprise-grade AI — a reputational plus but contributed to short-term volatility as markets parsed the tone. Satya Nadella Rails Against AI Slop
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan offices in a probe into possible restrictions around Azure customers using rival cloud services — this antitrust scrutiny is an immediate regulatory overhang that can hurt sentiment and add legal/operational uncertainty. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law
• Negative Sentiment: Market debate continues over Azure growth pacing vs. very large AI infrastructure capex (management flagged elevated AI-related investment), which knocked the stock after Q2 despite beats — investors are weighing near-term margin/cash impact against longer-term AI revenue upside. Microsoft Stock Opinions on Fiscal Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Broader sector risks — heightened talk of AI regulation and a Magnificent Seven rotation — keep pressure on valuations and can amplify moves in MSFT even when fundamentals are solid; this contributes to volatility until clarity on regulation and data-center costs emerges. Will Regulating AI Cripple AI Stocks?

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).