Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Tradewinds LLC.

Tradewinds LLC. raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2,978.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 39,378 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,099 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 5.0% of Tradewinds LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $20,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% in 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 last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in 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 period. Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,536,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA lifted its position 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. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 price target (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnership and commercial wins — Microsoft expanded its sovereign cloud work with Capgemini, a deal that supports European cloud adoption and strengthens sales channels for Azure. This can help sustain predictable enterprise bookings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Security fixes for actively exploited bugs — Microsoft pushed February patches for critical Windows/Office zero‑day vulnerabilities used in one‑click attacks, reducing near‑term operational and legal risk for customers and the company. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Data center efficiency initiatives — Microsoft is exploring superconducting power lines and other efficiency measures for its data centers, which could lower long‑term capex/unit costs for its AI infrastructure build. That helps the margin/cash‑flow story over time. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying amid the pullback — Some asset managers (e.g., Fisher Asset Management) have increased positions, signaling conviction from large investors that the pullback creates a buying opportunity. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Underlying cloud migration demand — Analysis argues that steady SQL/legacy migrations to Azure are a durable revenue base (RPO backlog) that cushions AI‑related lumpiness; this is more of a structural reminder than an immediate catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over AI capex and guidance — Reports and commentary highlight record AI spending, lumpiness in cloud growth and conservative near‑term Azure guidance; those worries have pressured the stock as markets digest margin and free‑cash‑flow risk. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and position trims — Melius downgraded MSFT citing AI capex and cash‑flow risks; Morningstar and some funds trimmed holdings, which contributes to downward pressure from active and quant flows. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Marketwide software sell‑off and sentiment swing — Broader tech/software weakness and short‑term momentum trading amplified MSFT’s decline after the earnings‑period re‑rating, even though fundamentals remain mixed. Article Title

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $404.37 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $463.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $494.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’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 transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 Microsoft 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).