Markel Group Inc. Has $275.59 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 532,080 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.2% of Markel Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $275,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi reiterated a Buy on Microsoft, highlighting continued Copilot adoption and strong Azure growth as reasons the company can outpace the recent sell-off. Microsoft in focus as Citi reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment among retail/institutional investors. Microsoft Director John Stanton Buys 5,000 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s extended OpenAI revenue arrangement (locking a meaningful share of OpenAI output through 2032) is a multi-year revenue and strategic moat tailwind for AI monetization. As Microsoft extends 20% OpenAI deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced a large long-term commitment to expand AI access in the Global South (reported ~$50B), a growth opportunity that also implies heavy multi-year capex and execution risk. Microsoft to invest $50B in Global South AI push
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships and marketplace traction (e.g., CrowdStrike on Microsoft Marketplace) reinforce enterprise ecosystem stickiness but have limited immediate revenue impact. Falcon on Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change in gaming: Phil Spencer’s immediate retirement and replacement by Asha Sharma introduces near-term uncertainty for Xbox strategy and investor confidence in the gaming unit. Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer retires
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgraded MSFT (Buy→Hold) and cut its price target, citing Azure supply constraints as a near-term growth headwind — a concrete analyst call that can pressure flows and justify further volatility. Stifel flags Azure supply constraints
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh AI quality/security reports (Copilot/Office bug and “AI recommendation poisoning” threats) raise short-term adoption and reputational risk that could delay enterprise deployments and weigh on sentiment. AI recommendation poisoning concerns

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $397.23 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $452.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $488.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. 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 currently 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).