Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Kera Capital Partners Inc.

Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,257 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $5,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management moves to accelerate AI sales — Microsoft promoted commercial sales leaders to shorten the customer feedback loop and speed enterprise AI adoption, which may help convert AI investments into revenue faster. Microsoft promotes sales leaders as company pursues AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and upgrades — Some brokers have reiterated buy/strong‑buy ratings and high price targets after the quarter, arguing the pullback presents a long‑term buying opportunity. That institutional backing can cushion further downside. Phillip Securities upgrade via Zacks
• Positive Sentiment: Product roadmap: Maia chip and AI cloud positioning — Microsoft is highlighting new AI hardware (Maia chip) and cloud AI capability expansion, reinforcing its competitive positioning in the AI stack. If deployments monetize, this supports longer‑term growth. Microsoft highlights Maia chip launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Hardware cycle signal — Market signals (e.g., SanDisk strength) point to an edge AI hardware refresh that benefits OEMs and infrastructure suppliers; Microsoft could benefit indirectly via Azure demand but the primary winners may be hardware vendors. The AI in a Box Trade: Hardware Is the Next Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: AI ecosystem deals highlight secular demand — Large partnerships in the cloud/AI space (e.g., Snowflake + OpenAI) validate ongoing enterprise AI spend, which is a positive structural tailwind for Microsoft’s cloud services even if near‑term economics are under pressure. Snowflake’s $200M Bet: Can The OpenAI Deal Fix the Slump?
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings reaction: growth vs. spending worries — Analysts and investors punished the stock after results: revenue/earnings beat but Azure growth cooled and management signaled heavy AI capex, raising concerns that spending will weigh on near‑term margins and guidance. That is the primary driver of today’s decline. Here’s Why Microsoft Fell After Earnings, Despite Beating Expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/regulatory risk in Europe — France and other European actors pushing native alternatives to Teams/Zoom underscore digital‑sovereignty headwinds that could slow enterprise adoption or create regional revenue pressure over time. France ditches Zoom and Teams for homegrown system
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target trims and insider selling amplify caution — Some firms trimmed targets and public filings show material insider sales; combined with high volume selling, this reinforces near‑term downward pressure despite long‑term bull cases. Analysts Cut Microsoft (MSFT) Price Targets

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $411.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $498.30. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.23 EPS. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target (down previously from $650.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $670.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, HSBC decreased their target price on Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $597.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).