Peterson Wealth Management Trims Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Peterson Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,443 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,178 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 3.4% of Peterson Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Peterson Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IRON Financial LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,372,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the period. Wellington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the second quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Evercore decreased their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 price objective (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $418.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $472.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI tie-up is driving new customer wins and adoption of Microsoft AI products, supporting recurring revenue growth and Copilot monetization. How Microsoft’s (MSFT) OpenAI Partnership Is Bringing in a New Wave of Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to an AI-fueled Azure surge and a large enterprise backlog (reported as a material competitive edge vs. peers like Adobe), supporting medium-term revenue upside. Microsoft vs. Adobe: Which Software Giant Has Better Upside Potential?
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partner activity (e.g., Accenture collaborations and ecosystem integrations) reinforces Microsoft’s position in enterprise security and AI services, which can deepen customer stickiness and drive incremental services revenue. Accenture Expands AI-Driven Cybersecurity Capabilities with Microsoft Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders and retail investors are seeing increased options activity and yield strategies (but these are tactical, not fundamental). Some traders propose structured trades (butterfly, income ETFs) to play the pullback. Transform Microsoft Stock Weakness Into A $1,700 Payoff With A Butterfly Trade
• Neutral Sentiment: Large-cap active ETFs continue to hold Microsoft as a core position, which can stabilize flows even during sell-offs (institutional ETF flows are a background influence on demand).
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI exclusivity appears at risk as OpenAI talks with Amazon, and reports say Microsoft is considering legal action — a potential breakdown of the partnership would materially weaken MSFT’s AI moat and Azure demand assumptions. Microsoft Weighs Legal Fight As OpenAI Amazon Talks Test Azure Edge
• Negative Sentiment: Policy/contract changes in local government dealings (NDAs and procurement) have been cited as a trigger for some municipal and public-sector deals to slow, which analysts say pressured the stock in intraday trading. No More NDAs: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slumps After Change in Local Government Dealings
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents continue to create headlines: a U.S. agency urged firms to harden a Microsoft endpoint tool after the Stryker attack, and reports of SharePoint being used as an attack vector raise enterprise risk and potential remediation costs. These keep risk-premiums elevated for MSFT. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about rising infrastructure and AI compute costs that have pressured margins despite solid top-line beats; commentary that the stock has been “slammed” this year reflects worry about near-term margin compression and valuation re-rating. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?

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).