Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Trimmed by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,160 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,438 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 3.4% of Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $58,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and Street optimism — Wedbush’s Dan Ives and others are positioning Microsoft as set for strong Q4 results tied to AI/cloud momentum, helping lift sentiment ahead of earnings. Dan Ives: Very Strong Q4 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Broker reaffirmation — Morgan Stanley kept an Overweight rating and high $650 target based on survey data showing rising enterprise software spend, supporting longer‑term upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI monetization boost — OpenAI’s worldwide rollout of the lower‑cost ChatGPT Go subscription expands the addressable market for AI services where Microsoft has strategic exposure, lifting revenue hopes. OpenAI ChatGPT Go Worldwide
• Positive Sentiment: Data‑center expansion/community plan — News of a $500M–$1B Michigan data‑center push and Microsoft’s “community‑first” messaging shows continued capex to support Azure/AI growth, which investors view as reinforcing future revenue streams despite near‑term costs. Michigan Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/short‑term rebound thesis — Some analysts note MSFT is oversold and could see a technical bounce ahead of earnings, which supports trading interest but is not a fundamental catalyst. Zacks: Ripe for Turnaround
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor operational housekeeping — The company closed some on‑campus libraries, a small cost/real‑estate move that got attention but is unlikely to materially affect earnings. MSFT Shuts Libraries
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe into Activision Blizzard — Italy opened investigations into alleged “misleading and aggressive” in‑game purchase practices for Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal, creating reputational and potential financial risk for MSFT’s gaming unit. Italy Investigates Activision
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk from Musk trial — A judge cleared Elon Musk’s suit against OpenAI and Microsoft to proceed to a jury trial in April, introducing headline legal overhang and potential distraction/costs. Musk Trial Moves Forward
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny and analyst trim — Switzerland opened a probe into Microsoft’s licensing fees and Barclays lowered its price target, both adding near‑term headwinds to sentiment amid capex worries and noted insider selling. Swiss Probe into Licensing Fees

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $459.86 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $483.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $502.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $637.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho lowered shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at $239,402,668.08. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).