Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Eastern Bank’s Largest Position

Eastern Bank lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 633,520 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 18,960 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 5.8% of Eastern Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $328,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth approximately $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 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 valued at $350,712,742,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (down previously from $610.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $660.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $593.28.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large investor and analyst support — Davis Selected Advisers added to its MSFT position, signaling institutional buying at current levels. Davis Selected Advisers boosts Microsoft stake
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/price‑target upside persists — coverage pieces note average upside targets well above current prices (one aggregation cites a ~605 average target), which supports the buy‑the‑dip narrative. Microsoft Stock Trades at $411, Showing Potential Upside of $605 Average Target
• Positive Sentiment: Major broker support remains — several firms have reiterated Outperform/Buy ratings after the results, keeping analyst conviction that MSFT is a long‑term AI winner. RBC Capital reiterates Outperform on Microsoft
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation & momentum check — recent writeups reassess Microsoft after a multi‑year run and the post‑earnings pullback, useful for investors deciding if the pullback is a buying opportunity or a reset. Assessing Microsoft (MSFT) Valuation After Multi Year Gains And Recent Momentum Shift
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership moves in security & sales — Microsoft reshuffled security leadership (bringing back Hayete Gallot) and promoted sales leaders under its commercial CEO to accelerate AI sales execution; these are governance/execution items investors will track for remediation of past breaches and faster customer feedback. Microsoft brings back Hayete Gallot to run cybersecurity, as Charlie Bell takes new role
• Negative Sentiment: Product adoption and UX problems — reporting shows Microsoft’s pivotal AI/chatbot offerings are struggling with user adoption and engagement, a warning that commercial AI monetization may be harder and slower than hoped. Microsoft’s Pivotal AI Product Is Running Into Big Problems
• Negative Sentiment: Copilot adoption weakness — data indicates Copilot adoption has slipped (reported ~11.5%), raising concerns about customer uptake, branding/confusion and the timeline to meaningful enterprise revenue from Copilot‑style products. Microsoft Stock May Face Hurdles as Copilot Adoption Slips to 11.5% & Competition Intensifies
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings nuance — while MSFT beat overall EPS, reports highlighted cloud revenue that missed expectations and sharply higher capital expenditures, which helped trigger the post‑earnings selloff and keeps short‑term pressure on the stock. Microsoft: capital expenditures soar, cloud revenue falls short

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $414.22 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $472.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $497.71.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 22.76%.

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).