Greenleaf Trust Sells 23,162 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Greenleaf Trust lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 292,811 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 23,162 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises about 1.4% of Greenleaf Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $151,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 7.3% during the third quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,084 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,115,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,524 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Arcataur Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 10,315 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,343,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 226,511 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $117,321,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 2.4% during the third quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,950 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,189,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Roundup

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 Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $465.95 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $478.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $501.18. The company has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.65 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.30 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Microsoft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $618.18.

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).