Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Highland Capital Management LLC’s Largest Position

Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 291,361 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,121 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 7.5% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $150,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 564,387.1% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $45,040,162,000 after buying an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Melius Research upped their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $710.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major infrastructure win — Microsoft is working with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (Midwest grid operator) to modernize the power grid so it can support large-scale AI loads, reinforcing Azure’s role in critical infrastructure and easing customer concerns about power availability for data centers. Microsoft works with major US electric grid operator to modernize the Midwest power system
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare and grid AI narrative — reporting highlights Microsoft’s expanding AI work in healthcare and power grids, which supports the Azure AI revenue story and positions MSFT as a go-to provider for regulated, mission-critical AI deployments. Is Microsoft’s Expanding AI Role in Healthcare and Power Grids Reshaping Its Cloud Narrative for MSFT?
• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition to accelerate autonomous data engineering — Microsoft bought Seattle startup Osmos to strengthen data engineering and automated pipelines, a tuck-in that supports enterprise AI adoption and could speed Azure/Power Platform monetization. Microsoft acquires data analytics startup Osmos to fuel push into ‘autonomous data engineering’
• Positive Sentiment: Marketplace distribution and partner ecosystem — Agentic AI platform Profitmind is now listed in the Microsoft Marketplace, expanding commercial channels and partner-led adoption for retail AI solutions on Microsoft technology. Profitmind Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market tailwind — major U.S. indexes set records on tech-led gains, helping lift MSFT alongside other megacaps rather than as a company-specific catalyst. How major US stock indexes fared Tuesday, 1/6/2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate persists — coverage notes a recent share-price pullback and conflicting fair-value views, reminding investors that upside is being balanced against a relatively rich multiple and differing analyst targets. Assessing Microsoft (MSFT) Valuation After Recent Share Price Pullback And Conflicting Fair Value Views
• Negative Sentiment: Talent movement — Meta hired a former Microsoft legal executive as CLO, a small signal of executive flow out of Microsoft; such departures can raise questions about retention but are not a major operational risk on their own. Meta names Microsoft’s Mahoney as chief legal officer
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/market skepticism — coverage and social chatter continue to debate Microsoft’s AI edge versus rivals (Google/Nvidia), and some investors remain cautious about OpenAI-related costs and high capex, which could cap sentiment if doubts persist. Google’s ‘Cannibalization’ Risk Vs Microsoft’s Azure Growth

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $478.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $491.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $503.98.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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).