Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 839,988 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 86,268 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 8.3% of Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $435,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $46,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Real Talk Capital LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 922,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $457,119,000 after purchasing an additional 33,382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.3% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 144,852 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $54,376,000 after purchasing an additional 40,860 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage point to improving AI economics — reports say Azure AI margins are positive and revenue is likely to beat estimates, supporting near-term earnings upside and giving investors confidence in cloud monetization. Azure AI margins article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in India — a large, long-term growth initiative that should expand Azure adoption and enterprise spending in a major emerging market. India investment article
• Positive Sentiment: New enterprise partnerships (Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro) and a Cognizant-led push to scale Microsoft 365/GitHub Copilot & agentic AI deployments could accelerate commercial adoption and drive higher software and Azure consumption. Partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined the U.S. “Genesis Mission” AI initiative alongside top AI firms — positioning MSFT to capture government and scientific AI spend and reinforcing strategic leadership in national AI programs. Genesis Mission article
• Positive Sentiment: Partner-channel and device news helped sentiment — LG’s reported backpedal on making Copilot mandatory drove a small positive knee-jerk move, easing concerns about forced integrations and signaling partner flexibility. LG Copilot article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary frames MSFT as a durable AI/dividend play — pieces highlighting dividend/long-term strength keep buy-and-hold narratives alive but are unlikely to move price materially on their own. MarketBeat dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-product updates (Office 2024 upgrade) and legacy product refreshes support steady software sales, but are lower-impact versus cloud/AI developments. Office 2024 article
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive — a direct headline that reinforces investor worries about rising capex and margin pressure as MSFT scales data centers and AI infrastructure. Cramer spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/tech jitters and commentary about “ballooning” capex have pressured the stock in recent weeks; that narrative could cap multiple expansion until evidence of durable margin recovery is clear. CapEx concerns article

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $485.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $499.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $502.74. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 price objective on Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $631.03.

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).