Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 287,192 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,482 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 3.6% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $150,483,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the first quarter valued at about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $404.37 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $463.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $494.08. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).