Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 3,897 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 469,821 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 3,897 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 2.0% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $243,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. IRON Financial LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,372,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,941,000. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 94,120 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $46,816,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 14.0% in the third quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 18,340 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,499,000 after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 285,163 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $147,700,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $641.00 price objective (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas / Microsoft discussion suggests OpenAI’s updated spending plan still benefits cloud providers — Microsoft weighed in on OpenAI and Anthropic during a BNP sit-down, with analysts framing OpenAI’s revised spending as a net positive for Microsoft’s Azure and AI services. Microsoft weighs in on OpenAI, Anthropic, and AI spending during BNP sit-down
• Positive Sentiment: Options-market bullish signal may attract short-term buying — an ultra-rare bullish technical/options setup was flagged by traders, drawing attention to potential tactical inflows into MSFT options/stock. Microsoft Stock Just Flashed an Ultra-Rare Bullish Signal for Options Traders
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink expands connectivity and enterprise reach — new Starlink collaboration supports Microsoft’s global access and Orbital AI initiatives, a strategic move to extend Azure/AI services into underserved regions. Microsoft and SpaceX’s Starlink partner on global community internet effort
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic partnerships ease fears that AI will displace software — Anthropic’s enterprise integrations (including plugins that work with Excel) have calmed some investor anxiety about AI eating traditional software revenue, indirectly supporting Microsoft’s ecosystem value. Anthropic eases software’s AI fears with enterprise partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox leadership change ties gaming to AI strategy — Phil Spencer’s retirement and Asha Sharma’s promotion from CoreAI signal Microsoft will lean gaming further into AI, which may be strategic long‑term but is execution dependent. Microsoft Ties Xbox Leadership To AI Cloud And Security Ambitions
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry notes: Evercore highlights Microsoft’s free cash flow resilience amid hyperscaler capex — a soothing data point versus peers even as capex rises. Microsoft stands out as lone Mag 7 hyperscaler to increase FCF during AI capex splurge: Evercore
• Negative Sentiment: High AI capex and valuation concerns keep pressure on shares — analysts and stories (including a deep-dive on Microsoft’s multibillion capex plans) continue to raise questions about timing and returns on massive data-center spending. Microsoft’s $83.09 Billion Decision Could Shape What Happens Next
• Negative Sentiment: Technicals signal risk — coverage highlights MSFT’s selloff approaching a long‑term support crossroads (200‑week), which could intensify volatility if broken. Microsoft’s selloff is approaching a critical crossroads unseen in over 10 years
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism from investors (Michael Burry) claims aggressive accounting to understate AI costs — such headlines can ratchet short-term selling and heighten regulatory/market scrutiny. Michael Burry Warns MSFT, GOOG, META Are Using ‘Sinister’ Accounting To Hide AI Costs, Inflate Profits By 20%

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, 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 of the company’s stock, 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 through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $389.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $448.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $485.89. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $344.79 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

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).