Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Position Lessened by Prossimo Advisors LLC

Prossimo Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 90.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,981 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 17,923 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.5% of Prossimo Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Prossimo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after buying an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $660.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their target price on Microsoft from $670.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.28.

Microsoft Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of MSFT opened at $393.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $470.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $496.99. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large AI demand validation — Microsoft is the anchor customer in multibillion-dollar infrastructure deals (e.g., IREN’s contracts tied to a $9.7B Microsoft AI cloud arrangement), signaling sustained enterprise demand for Azure/AI services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory / policy partnership — the UK is teaming with Microsoft to build deepfake-detection tools, reinforcing MSFT’s role in AI safety and government contracts (adds non-cyclical revenue and credibility). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate governance & talent moves — Microsoft hired a seasoned security leader from Google and shuffled internal cybersecurity leadership, which may reduce operational risk and reassure enterprise customers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning mixed — some asset managers (First Eagle, Manning & Napier) have increased MSFT stakes while others trimmed exposure; flows are ambiguous for near-term price action. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst targets & outlook vary — Daiwa trimmed its price target but kept a buy rating, and some firms reiterate Buy while trimming targets, producing mixed signals on fair value. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgrade triggered selling — Stifel cut MSFT to Hold, citing intensifying competition (Google, Anthropic) for AI services and rising AI-related costs for Microsoft, which hit sentiment hard. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings hangover — the stock plunged after Q2 as investors focused on AI capex, margin pressure and capacity limits in Azure despite revenue beats; the market is penalizing near-term execution risks. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Product adoption and competition concerns — reports flag slowing Copilot adoption and user frustration plus accelerating competition in cloud AI, raising doubts about how quickly Azure/AI monetization will scale. Read More.

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).