Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Sold by Aspiriant LLC

Aspiriant LLC lessened its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 44,994 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,953 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 0.7% of Aspiriant LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 155.7% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $430.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $475.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $499.66. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $600.00 price target (down from $650.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday. Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $597.73.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large commercial deals and partnerships underpin continued demand — Microsoft landed a major cloud customer agreement (Perplexity, reported as a $750M deal), which demonstrates Azure can win sizable AI workloads and supports future revenue. Perplexity signs $750 million AI cloud deal with Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term AI opportunity remains large — analysts and commentators note that potential liquidity events (e.g., an OpenAI IPO) and continued hyperscaler AI demand could boost infrastructure spending that benefits Microsoft’s cloud and services over time. Could A $1 Trillion OpenAI IPO Save The Day For Nvidia, Microsoft?
• Positive Sentiment: Backlog/RPO growth signals demand — Microsoft’s commercial remaining performance obligations (backlog) jumped materially year-over-year, implying multi-year contracted revenue tied to AI workloads. Microsoft demand backlog doubles to $625 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly results were solid but mixed — MSFT beat on revenue and EPS (Q2 results) yet the company issued guidance and commentary that implied a modest moderation in Azure growth vs. prior quarter; the market is parsing growth vs. the cost profile. Microsoft Q2 earnings beat on top and bottom lines
• Neutral Sentiment: Options and sentiment flows amplify moves — unusually high call-option buying and heavy volume have increased intraday volatility and may accentuate both selloffs and snapbacks. Stock Of The Day: Is This The Bottom For Microsoft?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor backlash to capex and margin risk — the core negative: investors punished MSFT because AI capex jumped (reported ~$37.5B in the quarter) while Azure growth showed signs of slowing, raising doubts about near-term returns. That drove a sharp selloff and a big market-cap contraction. Microsoft tumbled 10% in a day and isn’t recovering premarket. Here’s why
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts & guidance uncertainty — several firms trimmed price targets or flagged near-term Azure/margin risks, increasing downside pressure even as many maintain buy ratings longer term. These Analysts Slash Their Forecasts On Microsoft Following Q2 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/investor scrutiny follows the shock drop — law firms have opened investigations and class-action notices have surfaced, which can keep sentiment fragile near-term. Microsoft Corporation Investigated on Behalf of Investors

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).