Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Rit Capital Partners PLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Rit Capital Partners PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 24.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,250 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 51,750 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 11.2% of Rit Capital Partners PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Rit Capital Partners PLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $83,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on MSFT, which reinforces buy-side sentiment and can support the stock after recent weakness. MarketScreener: RBC rating
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a Starlink partnership, a gaming leadership reshuffle (Asha Sharma named CEO of Microsoft Gaming) and expanded AI/data-center and sustainability initiatives — strategic moves that extend Azure reach and long-term cloud/AI revenue potential. Yahoo: Microsoft reshapes gaming and Azure
• Positive Sentiment: Macro and sector tailwinds: analysts point to rising enterprise software spending and a potential March market rally, which disproportionately helps large cloud/AI names like Microsoft. That supports expectations for continued revenue growth. Fool: enterprises spending more on AI software Zacks: March momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity and technical action show heightened trading around key support/resistance levels — this can amplify short-term moves but doesn’t change fundamentals. Watch volume and option skew for clues on near-term direction. Schaeffers: options traders pounce
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical analysis notes MSFT is in the top decile of relative rankings but facing key resistance—this suggests upside may be capped until price clears those levels. Benzinga: technical analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Reputational/operational noise: a recent flare-up in the Copilot Discord required company attention; it hasn’t derailed momentum but is a reminder of product/community risk for AI rollouts. TipRanks: Copilot Discord furor
• Negative Sentiment: MSFT remains down materially from its highs and is ~7% lower since the last earnings release, highlighting investor skepticism about near-term growth and valuation pressure. That lingering post-earnings selloff continues to weigh on investor sentiment. Yahoo: MSFT down 7.3% since earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Industry headwind: a reported electrician shortage for AI data centers could limit near-term capacity expansion and raise costs for cloud providers, a potential operational constraint for Microsoft’s AI/data-center growth. Fortune: electrician shortage threatens AI buildout

Microsoft Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $398.55 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $441.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $482.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $590.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

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).