Highland Capital Management LLC Has $150.91 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 291,361 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,121 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 7.5% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $150,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 90,549,369 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,040,162,000 after purchasing an additional 90,533,328 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth about $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $14,905,904,000 after buying an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $478.51 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $491.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $503.98. The company has a market cap of $3.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $500.00 target price (down from $560.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major infrastructure win — Microsoft is working with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (Midwest grid operator) to modernize the power grid so it can support large-scale AI loads, reinforcing Azure’s role in critical infrastructure and easing customer concerns about power availability for data centers. Microsoft works with major US electric grid operator to modernize the Midwest power system
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare and grid AI narrative — reporting highlights Microsoft’s expanding AI work in healthcare and power grids, which supports the Azure AI revenue story and positions MSFT as a go-to provider for regulated, mission-critical AI deployments. Is Microsoft’s Expanding AI Role in Healthcare and Power Grids Reshaping Its Cloud Narrative for MSFT?
• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition to accelerate autonomous data engineering — Microsoft bought Seattle startup Osmos to strengthen data engineering and automated pipelines, a tuck-in that supports enterprise AI adoption and could speed Azure/Power Platform monetization. Microsoft acquires data analytics startup Osmos to fuel push into ‘autonomous data engineering’
• Positive Sentiment: Marketplace distribution and partner ecosystem — Agentic AI platform Profitmind is now listed in the Microsoft Marketplace, expanding commercial channels and partner-led adoption for retail AI solutions on Microsoft technology. Profitmind Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market tailwind — major U.S. indexes set records on tech-led gains, helping lift MSFT alongside other megacaps rather than as a company-specific catalyst. How major US stock indexes fared Tuesday, 1/6/2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate persists — coverage notes a recent share-price pullback and conflicting fair-value views, reminding investors that upside is being balanced against a relatively rich multiple and differing analyst targets. Assessing Microsoft (MSFT) Valuation After Recent Share Price Pullback And Conflicting Fair Value Views
• Negative Sentiment: Talent movement — Meta hired a former Microsoft legal executive as CLO, a small signal of executive flow out of Microsoft; such departures can raise questions about retention but are not a major operational risk on their own. Meta names Microsoft’s Mahoney as chief legal officer
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/market skepticism — coverage and social chatter continue to debate Microsoft’s AI edge versus rivals (Google/Nvidia), and some investors remain cautious about OpenAI-related costs and high capex, which could cap sentiment if doubts persist. Google’s ‘Cannibalization’ Risk Vs Microsoft’s Azure Growth

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 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).