Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,830,292 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 47,061 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 7.5% of Xponance Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $948,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK & TLK Investments LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure AI and Copilot adoption remain the principal growth engine: continued strong cloud revenue and higher Azure consumption from AI workloads support long‑term earnings upside. Will Microsoft Stock Climb as Azure AI Services Gain Traction?
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft filed an amicus brief backing Anthropic in its suit versus the DoD — a move that protects access to Anthropic models for many customers and helps preserve Azure compute demand tied to that partnership. Microsoft files amicus brief
• Positive Sentiment: New monetization levers (a $99 “Frontier” AI subscription and deeper OpenAI/Anthropic integrations) increase potential ARPU from Office/365 and enterprise suites. This supports revenue upside if adoption scales. Microsoft Unveils $99 ‘Frontier’ AI Subscription
• Positive Sentiment: Board declared a quarterly dividend ($0.91), reaffirming capital returns and making MSFT more attractive to income‑oriented investors. Microsoft announces quarterly dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Console roadmap: Microsoft will ship next‑gen Xbox prototypes to developers in 2027 — positive for long term product pipeline but limited near‑term revenue impact. Microsoft plans to ship prototype of next Xbox
• Neutral Sentiment: Site and data‑center activity (interest in Oracle’s Abilene/Stargate site and talks to lease a Texas AI data center) signals continued infrastructure expansion — supports Azure capacity but implies heavy capex. Microsoft in talks to lease Texas AI data center site
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and rising AI capex are a near‑term drag: analysts note MSFT trades at a premium P/S while heavy AI infrastructure spending could pressure margins and justify investor caution. The Zacks Analyst Blog
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling (an EVP sold roughly $5.0M of stock) and a noticeable rise in short interest suggest some near‑term skeptical positioning by market participants. EVP stock sale
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market volatility and midterm‑year election season risk are pressuring tech names; macro/geopolitical headlines could amplify short‑term selling even if Microsoft’s fundamentals remain intact. Market Crash Warning?

Microsoft Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $404.88 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 firm has a market cap of $3.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $430.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $477.49.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $641.00 price objective (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

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).