Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s Largest Position

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 284,203 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 6.2% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $147,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $457,119,000 after buying an additional 33,382 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,499,000 after buying an additional 2,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 4.3% during the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285,163 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $147,700,000 after acquiring an additional 11,770 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $655.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $611.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $470.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $477.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $500.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched the Maia 200 AI inference chip, which the company says delivers roughly 30% better performance-per-dollar and will be deployed in U.S. data centers — a direct play on lowering inference costs, improving gross margins for Azure/Copilot, and reducing reliance on third-party GPUs. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side and independent analysts are broadly bullish ahead of Q2, forecasting strong Azure and AI adoption that could drive another “robust” quarter; several previews expect revenue and AI‑driven growth to beat or justify premium multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q2 earnings (Jan. 28) and the Fed meeting make this a volatile catalyst week — investors are focused on forward guidance and margins (not just trailing revenue), so the stock could swing on the tone of management’s commentary. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: some firms trimmed targets (Bank of America lowered its PT), while others maintain buy/outperform ratings — this produces conflicting near‑term signals despite a generally bullish long‑term view. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk: a class‑action suit targets an AI hiring tool (Eightfold) used by Microsoft and others, raising headline risk around AI product governance and potential reputational/legal costs. Read More.

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).