Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 449,470 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 11,231 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 12.6% of Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $217,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aspiriant LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 48,086 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $23,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares during the last quarter. Greenbush Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenbush Financial Group LLC now owns 7,006 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Investment Planning Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment Planning Advisors Inc. now owns 2,301 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Square Asset Management LLC now owns 11,435 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,530,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ASL Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,888,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Historic multi‑day rally and an “extreme bounce” vs. options pricing — momentum traders are piling in after an unusually large short‑term rebound that options markets hadn’t priced. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial wins and partnerships widen enterprise AI reach — a five‑year strategic AI, cybersecurity and cloud deal with Stellantis expands Microsoft’s addressable market in automotive software and services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure buildouts support product adoption — Microsoft secured spare capacity at a Norway data center originally tied to OpenAI (adding large GPU capacity) and an early online Fairweather data center, strengthening Azure’s AI compute supply. Read More. • Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street support remains — TD Cowen reiterated a Buy with a $540 target (still below prior $610 target) and other analysts continue to see long‑term AI/cloud upside, giving investors conviction to buy the dip. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Government adoption of Microsoft AI tools (CFTC surveillance) highlights public‑sector demand but is unlikely to move near‑term revenue materially — reflects platform credibility more than a big immediate revenue boost. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy options and unusual volume are amplifying moves — some of the price action reflects positioning and technical dynamics rather than fundamental news. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Competition and product risk — reports that Anthropic/OpenAI moves and new models (Claude Mythos) could pressure Copilot adoption raise execution and competitive risk for Microsoft’s AI offerings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst caution and valuation headwinds — some firms recently cut price targets (Piper Sandler, Robert W. Baird, etc.) and investors remain concerned about heavy AI capex (data‑center spending) weighing on near‑term returns. Read More. • Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/ESG noise — the NYT piece on Microsoft scaling back carbon‑removal commitments could prompt criticism and potential impairments or higher scrutiny. Read More.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSFT. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $610.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 12th. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $577.58.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.2%

Microsoft stock opened at $420.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $391.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $455.12. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $355.67 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

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 firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

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).