Independent Advisor Alliance Purchases 15,272 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 330,434 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,272 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 4.4% of Independent Advisor Alliance’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $171,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CWS Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,334,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the third quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 18,632 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,648,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Landaas & Co. WI ADV increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the third quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV now owns 11,631 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,024,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 121,033 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $62,689,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the period. Finally, Centric Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 19,647 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $10,173,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at BNP and others say OpenAI’s large new funding round should still benefit Microsoft because of its deep Azure and infrastructure ties — a reminder that MSFT remains a key AI partner and infrastructure provider. OpenAI’s massive funding round should benefit Microsoft, Oracle: BNP
• Positive Sentiment: An insider (director Stanton John) bought roughly $2M of MSFT stock, signalling confidence from management-level insiders during the pullback. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat / Altimetry note that Microsoft is “at the center of AI” with high switching costs and under-appreciated fundamentals — an argument that current valuation weakness is sentiment-driven and could reverse. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers, 2 Experts Explain
• Positive Sentiment: Dynamics 365 business applications continue to post solid mid-teens to high‑teens growth and are cited as a consistent driver of Productivity & Business Processes revenue — a durable growth stream beyond Azure. Can Microsoft Stock Rally on Dynamics 365 Business Applications?
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced its next quarterly dividend payable March 13 — a steady income signal but unlikely to move the stock materially amid the current narrative-driven trading. Microsoft to pay dividends on March 13; Here’s how much 100 MSFT shares will earn
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction to OpenAI’s announcement cut both ways: Microsoft wasn’t named among some of the latest funding/partner headlines, prompting investor worry about its standing with OpenAI and driving selling pressure. What’s Behind The Drop In Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s authorities carried out a raid tied to suspected antitrust issues around Microsoft’s cloud business, raising regulatory risk in a major market. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law, source says
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/real‑estate headwinds: reports of data center/building delays and related execution noise have been cited as a near-term drag on sentiment. “On Hold Until Further Notice”: Microsoft Stock Slumps With Building Delay
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI-capex and semiconductor market jitters (Nvidia-centric weakness) are depressing the megacap tech complex; investors are weighing heavy industry capex against margins and balance-sheet strain. That macro pressure is spilling over to Microsoft. Nvidia Fails to Reassure—Heard on the Street

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $392.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $443.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $483.82. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for 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 revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target (down from $650.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 target price (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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).