Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Parnassus Investments LLC

Parnassus Investments LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,690,425 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 553,142 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.6% of Parnassus Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,429,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 29.9% in the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat on top and bottom lines — EPS $4.14 and revenue $81.27B, with Microsoft Cloud topping $50B and Azure still growing robustly—this underpins the long‑term growth thesis. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI and AI revenue contribution is material — the company reported meaningful gains tied to OpenAI that help justify the AI investment narrative. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 200 AI accelerator — a strategic product for in‑house AI capability, but commercial impact/timing is uncertain and longer term. Microsoft launches Maia 200 AI accelerator
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex spooked investors — Q2 capex (~$37.5B) rose sharply and management signaled continued heavy spending; markets worried about the timing and ROI of that investment. Microsoft sheds $430bn in market value as AI spending spooks investors
• Negative Sentiment: Investor reaction: a historic one‑day market‑cap wipe and broad tech weakness as traders rotated into names (like Meta) that showed clearer near‑term payoff from AI spend. Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap as stock plunged
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimmed targets and flagged near‑term risk — several firms cut price targets or adjusted estimates citing slower Azure growth and heavier capex, increasing near‑term downside risk. These analysts slash their forecasts on Microsoft

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $599.72.

Microsoft Trading Down 10.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $433.50 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $476.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $500.21. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 33.48% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.89%.

Microsoft Company 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).