Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Trimmed by Leibman Financial Services Inc.

Leibman Financial Services Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 85.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 449 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,584 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

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?

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’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 owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0%

Microsoft stock opened at $381.35 on Monday. The firm 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $418.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $471.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating 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 assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.87.

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).