Abundance Wealth Counselors Lowers Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Abundance Wealth Counselors cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,602 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,120 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 1.9% of Abundance Wealth Counselors’ portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $11,189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 155.7% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 156 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on MSFT shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI set a $640.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $618.18.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New AI and robotics announcements — Microsoft unveiled robotics/agentic AI initiatives and pushed further into agentic AI for retail and frontline use, boosting enthusiasm that its product roadmap will translate into revenue from AI workloads. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Defense cloud contract — Microsoft won a sizable Air Force Cloud One task order (~$170M) that validates Azure’s position in government/defense spending and provides a tangible near‑term revenue win. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor reassessment of valuation — After recent weakness MSFT is seeing a rebound as analysts and market commentators highlight Microsoft’s relative growth, profitability and balance‑sheet strength versus software peers. That sentiment helped the stock move back up today. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaffirmations and mixed targets — Several firms (Jefferies, Guggenheim, UBS) kept Buy ratings even as many groups trimmed price targets; that leaves a mix of support and pressure in the tape heading into earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple price‑target cuts and downgrades — A wave of target trims (Cantor Fitzgerald, Wells Fargo adjustments, Rothschild/Redburn cuts and other downgrades) is adding selling pressure and keeps expectations muted into the Jan. 28 earnings print. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Service outages and security/privacy headlines — Recent widespread Microsoft 365/Outlook outages disrupted customers and raised reliability concerns; separate reports about providing BitLocker recovery keys to the FBI introduce potential reputational/privacy scrutiny. Read More.

Microsoft Stock Up 3.3%

MSFT stock opened at $465.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $478.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

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).