Violich Capital Management Inc. Has $91.81 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Violich Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 177,251 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,966 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 10.9% of Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Violich Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $91,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after buying an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s sovereign-cloud collaboration with Capgemini and other partner wins are being highlighted by the market as validating recurring, enterprise cloud demand—supporting Azure’s long-term pipeline. Microsoft Stock Rises on Sovereign Cloud Collab
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft clarified Copilot user metrics after the quarter, which helped calm some investor uncertainty about adoption of its AI products. Microsoft Fills in Gaps on Copilot Numbers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft rolled out fixes for actively exploited Windows/Office zero-day vulnerabilities—reducing regulatory and security risk for enterprise customers. Microsoft says hackers are exploiting critical zero-day bugs
• Positive Sentiment: R&D/infra progress: Microsoft is exploring superconducting power lines to make data centers more energy-efficient, a potential long-term cost and sustainability advantage for its capex-heavy buildout. Microsoft exploring using advanced power lines
• Positive Sentiment: Partner ecosystem momentum: ESW’s MissionReady365 and FPT’s inclusion in Gartner’s Microsoft 365 services guide reflect ongoing third‑party demand and channel depth for Microsoft 365/Azure services. ESW Launches MissionReady365 FPT Recognized in Gartner Market Guide
• Positive Sentiment: Large investors: Fisher Asset Management and Crake Asset Management reported sizeable increases in MSFT holdings, signaling institutional conviction among some managers. Fisher Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake Crake Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish commentaries argue MSFT is a structural winner in software and cloud consolidation, framing recent weakness as a buying opportunity for long‑term investors. If Software Is Dead, Microsoft Wins
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector notes: Strategists flag the software pullback as a potential rebound trade; quantum and AI narratives are cited as multi-year upside but carry execution uncertainty. AI disruption fears create buying chance Quantum Hype vs. Profits
• Negative Sentiment: Primary sell pressure: investors are spooked by a deceleration in Azure growth and conservative guidance tied to heavy AI capex, which is the main reason MSFT traded down after earnings. Why Microsoft’s Cloud Migrations Matter More Than Its AI Hype
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and investor pullbacks: Melius downgrade and several institutional trims (Morningstar, Vulcan, smaller SCS sale) signal near‑term skepticism about margin pressure and capex discipline. Stock Slips on Melius Downgrade Morningstar Cuts Microsoft Position
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: post‑earnings volatility and the stock’s YTD decline reflect investor repricing for the near‑term hit to free cash flow and margins from AI infrastructure spending. Microsoft is Bouncing Back from Its Post-Earnings Price Crash

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, New Street Research raised their price objective on Microsoft from $670.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

Microsoft Stock Performance

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

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

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).