Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 199,358 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 51,164 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 1.1% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $103,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 0.7% during the second quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major private-market validation for the AI ecosystem could benefit Microsoft as a cloud and AI infrastructure provider — Anthropic’s new $380B valuation (which includes investments tied to Microsoft) signals strong enterprise demand for AI models and likely more backend cloud consumption. Anthropic Valuation Hits $380 Billion as Enterprise AI Demand Explodes
• Positive Sentiment: Citi reaffirmed a Buy on MSFT with a $635 price target — a bullish institutional view that supports the long‑term AI/cloud thesis despite recent sentiment-driven weakness. Microsoft: Buy Rating Reaffirmed on Undervalued AI and Cloud Growth Drivers Despite Sentiment-Driven Sell-Off
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is leading industry efforts on “digital trust” with other large tech firms (Trusted Tech Alliance), a reputational win that may ease enterprise sales cycles for security‑sensitive customers. Microsoft, Ericsson lead global tech alliance for digital trust
• Positive Sentiment: R&D/infra innovation: reports that Microsoft is exploring superconducting power lines for AI data centers point to potential long‑term efficiency gains and differentiation for its hyperscale buildout. Microsoft Explores Superconducting Power to Boost AI Data Centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief’s bold timeline for rapid white‑collar automation (12–18 months) fuels debate — it underscores market opportunity but also raises labor/regulatory concerns that could shape adoption rates. Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months — for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Market technicians and contrarian pieces argue MSFT looks oversold/potentially bottoming after the post‑earnings drop — these narratives can attract buyers, but timing is uncertain. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Price Forecast: Bottoming at Channel Support?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk increased today: the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has issued investigative demands and questioned Microsoft’s rivals about its AI/cloud licensing and business practices — this escalation is a clear near‑term negative catalyst. US FTC ramps up scrutiny of Microsoft over AI, cloud practices, questions rivals, Bloomberg reports
• Negative Sentiment: Investor rotation and positioning: several funds disclosed cuts to MSFT stakes this week, and commentary highlights investor concern over heavy CapEx for AI infrastructure and concentration risk tied to OpenAI—factors that have pressured the stock. PRIMECAP Management Co cuts Microsoft stake by 1.1M
• Negative Sentiment: Critics argue Microsoft has underperformed some AI peers and that capex intensity may strain free cash flow, reinforcing sentiment‑driven selling pressure. Microsoft Is Spending, Investors Are Losing

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.1%

MSFT stock opened at $401.32 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $460.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $492.67. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly 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 firm 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%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft 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).