Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,017,458 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 10.0% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $526,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and Street optimism — Wedbush’s Dan Ives and others are positioning Microsoft as set for strong Q4 results tied to AI/cloud momentum, helping lift sentiment ahead of earnings. Dan Ives: Very Strong Q4 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Broker reaffirmation — Morgan Stanley kept an Overweight rating and high $650 target based on survey data showing rising enterprise software spend, supporting longer‑term upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI monetization boost — OpenAI’s worldwide rollout of the lower‑cost ChatGPT Go subscription expands the addressable market for AI services where Microsoft has strategic exposure, lifting revenue hopes. OpenAI ChatGPT Go Worldwide
• Positive Sentiment: Data‑center expansion/community plan — News of a $500M–$1B Michigan data‑center push and Microsoft’s “community‑first” messaging shows continued capex to support Azure/AI growth, which investors view as reinforcing future revenue streams despite near‑term costs. Michigan Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/short‑term rebound thesis — Some analysts note MSFT is oversold and could see a technical bounce ahead of earnings, which supports trading interest but is not a fundamental catalyst. Zacks: Ripe for Turnaround
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor operational housekeeping — The company closed some on‑campus libraries, a small cost/real‑estate move that got attention but is unlikely to materially affect earnings. MSFT Shuts Libraries
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe into Activision Blizzard — Italy opened investigations into alleged “misleading and aggressive” in‑game purchase practices for Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal, creating reputational and potential financial risk for MSFT’s gaming unit. Italy Investigates Activision
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk from Musk trial — A judge cleared Elon Musk’s suit against OpenAI and Microsoft to proceed to a jury trial in April, introducing headline legal overhang and potential distraction/costs. Musk Trial Moves Forward
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny and analyst trim — Switzerland opened a probe into Microsoft’s licensing fees and Barclays lowered its price target, both adding near‑term headwinds to sentiment amid capex worries and noted insider selling. Swiss Probe into Licensing Fees

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $459.86 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $483.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $502.58.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild Redb lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Arete Research lifted their price target on Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $630.37.

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).