Invested Advisors Takes $2.74 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Invested Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 5,295 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,743,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.8% of Invested Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Seek First Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the second quarter. Seek First Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Level Financial Advisors increased its position in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Level Financial Advisors now owns 2,680 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Red Mountain Financial LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly beat — Microsoft reported $4.14 EPS and ~$81.3B revenue, topping consensus and reassuring investors on core demand. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations with $81.3B revenue
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI payoff — Microsoft recorded a ~$7.6B gain tied to OpenAI activity, which boosted non‑GAAP EPS and highlights monetization of its AI investments. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI last quarter
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud momentum — Azure and Microsoft Cloud continued strong growth (reports cite large percentage gains and Microsoft Cloud topping ~$50B quarterly), supporting the longer-term AI/cloud thesis. Microsoft beats Q2 earnings as Azure jumps 39%
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure and long-term positioning — New Maia 200 AI chip rollout and approvals for more data centers support MSFT’s effort to control stack and reduce third‑party GPU exposure. Microsoft’s Maia 200: The Profit Engine AI Needs
• Neutral Sentiment: Guidance roughly in line but watched closely — Microsoft issued revenue guidance near the Street range (~$80.7B–$81.8B), leaving limited upside vs. elevated cloud expectations. See the company press materials for details. Microsoft earnings press release
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst activity — Some firms reiterated buys and raised targets (e.g., BNP Paribas/Raymond James), while others trimmed targets citing margin pressure; this produced divergent analyst reactions rather than a consensus swing. BNP Paribas raises price target
• Negative Sentiment: Record capex and AI hardware spending — Microsoft reported very large capital expenditures (well above some estimates), fueling investor concern about near‑term margin pressure and free‑cash‑flow timing. Microsoft drops after reporting record spending on AI hardware
• Negative Sentiment: Cloud growth expectations vs. reality — Headlines noting cloud growth “slowed” vs. sky‑high expectations and commentary that elevated cloud targets left limited upside helped trigger after‑hours selling. Microsoft edges past cloud growth expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Immediate market reaction — Despite the beat, traders sold after the report (several outlets flagged a sharp post‑earnings drop) as investors focused on capex, guidance nuance, and elevated expectations. Microsoft’s stock could see its sharpest post-earnings drop in over three years
• Negative Sentiment: Other headwinds — A few operational/competitive items (third‑party Xbox cancellations, France pulling back on videoconferencing contracts) were noted as marginal drags on sentiment. Microsoft slips on third-party Xbox game cancellations

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Microsoft from $639.00 to $590.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $612.58.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $481.63 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

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).