Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Lifted by Darwin Wealth Management LLC

Darwin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,006 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.6% of Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,493,678,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 564,387.1% in 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. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank reaffirmed a Buy rating on Microsoft, which supports investor confidence and can buoy the stock ahead of results. Scotiabank Keeps Their Buy Rating on Microsoft (MSFT)
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic is pursuing a huge new funding round (reportedly $10B at a ~$350B valuation) separate from the $15B pledges by Nvidia and Microsoft — this underscores MSFT’s deepening strategic exposure to big AI winners and supports long-term AI upside. Anthropic Aims to Nearly Double Valuation in New Funding Round
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI (Microsoft-backed) launched ChatGPT Health, expanding AI use cases into healthcare — a high-value, enterprise-facing market that can drive Azure usage and product stickiness. OpenAI Pushes Deeper into Health Care with New ChatGPT Health Feature
• Positive Sentiment: Copilot’s high‑profile placement (calls tied to Super Bowl 60) and a new Azure-powered deal with Hexagon for humanoid factory robots deliver positive PR and concrete enterprise use cases that can help user/adoption metrics. Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Jumps as Copilot Calls Super Bowl 60 Microsoft, Hexagon Put Humanoid Robots On Factory Floors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft set its quarterly earnings release date — an upcoming report is a direct catalyst that often increases trading volume and volatility as investors position around Azure/Copilot results. Microsoft announces quarterly earnings release date
• Neutral Sentiment: Large option trades (“market whales”) were active in MSFT — heavy option flow can amplify intraday moves but is ambiguous on direction until positions are netted out. Market Whales and Their Recent Bets on MSFT Options
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage debate over valuation — several pieces (Forbes, valuation analyses) argue Microsoft may be expensive at current multiples, which can limit upside and encourage profit‑taking despite strong fundamentals. Is Microsoft Stock Expensive?
• Negative Sentiment: Repeated media reports and rumors that Microsoft is planning thousands of job cuts (estimates vary widely) create near‑term uncertainty and headline risk; while cuts could boost margins later, they typically pressure sentiment on the news. Microsoft (MSFT) Is Rumored to Be Planning Thousands of Job Cuts as AI Spending Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about gaming market stagnation and AI’s impact on game development raised in industry pieces could weigh on Xbox/consumer-revenue sentiment for investors focused on that segment. 2025’s Most Popular Games Raise Concerns for Sony, Microsoft (MSFT) & Nintendo (NTDOF)

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price 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 report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $483.63 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $489.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $503.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).