Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Tradewinds LLC.

Tradewinds LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2,978.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,378 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 38,099 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 5.0% of Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 price target (down previously from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $655.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report 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.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnership and commercial wins — Microsoft expanded its sovereign cloud work with Capgemini, a deal that supports European cloud adoption and strengthens sales channels for Azure. This can help sustain predictable enterprise bookings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Security fixes for actively exploited bugs — Microsoft pushed February patches for critical Windows/Office zero‑day vulnerabilities used in one‑click attacks, reducing near‑term operational and legal risk for customers and the company. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Data center efficiency initiatives — Microsoft is exploring superconducting power lines and other efficiency measures for its data centers, which could lower long‑term capex/unit costs for its AI infrastructure build. That helps the margin/cash‑flow story over time. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying amid the pullback — Some asset managers (e.g., Fisher Asset Management) have increased positions, signaling conviction from large investors that the pullback creates a buying opportunity. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Underlying cloud migration demand — Analysis argues that steady SQL/legacy migrations to Azure are a durable revenue base (RPO backlog) that cushions AI‑related lumpiness; this is more of a structural reminder than an immediate catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over AI capex and guidance — Reports and commentary highlight record AI spending, lumpiness in cloud growth and conservative near‑term Azure guidance; those worries have pressured the stock as markets digest margin and free‑cash‑flow risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and position trims — Melius downgraded MSFT citing AI capex and cash‑flow risks; Morningstar and some funds trimmed holdings, which contributes to downward pressure from active and quant flows. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Marketwide software sell‑off and sentiment swing — Broader tech/software weakness and short‑term momentum trading amplified MSFT’s decline after the earnings‑period re‑rating, even though fundamentals remain mixed. Article Title

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $404.37 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $463.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $494.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).