Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,062,030 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,980 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.7% of Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,068,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argent Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 15,466 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,010,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,248 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,775,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 11,463 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,937,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $401.72 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $445.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $484.72. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 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. The firm 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and AI strategists argue Microsoft is a core AI infrastructure winner — a driver for investor interest given Azure, identity/auth layers and high switching costs that position MSFT to benefit from AI-driven enterprise spending. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s new collaboration with Starlink signals expanded connectivity and potential Azure edge use cases (rural/remote customers), supporting cloud revenue optionality and positive sentiment around partnership-driven growth. Microsoft Is Teaming up With Starlink
• Positive Sentiment: An insider purchase (director John Stanton) added a small but visible vote of confidence after the post-earnings sell-off, which can support short-term sentiment and stabilize shares. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: The White House’s planned power-cost pledge with big cloud/data-center firms (including Microsoft) reduces one operational risk for hyperscalers and could be a modest long-term positive for data-center economics, though timing/implementation remain uncertain. White House to host Big Tech pledge
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s public comments pushing back on low-quality “AI slop” reflect management trying to shape the narrative around responsible, enterprise-grade AI — a reputational plus but contributed to short-term volatility as markets parsed the tone. Satya Nadella Rails Against AI Slop
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan offices in a probe into possible restrictions around Azure customers using rival cloud services — this antitrust scrutiny is an immediate regulatory overhang that can hurt sentiment and add legal/operational uncertainty. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law
• Negative Sentiment: Market debate continues over Azure growth pacing vs. very large AI infrastructure capex (management flagged elevated AI-related investment), which knocked the stock after Q2 despite beats — investors are weighing near-term margin/cash impact against longer-term AI revenue upside. Microsoft Stock Opinions on Fiscal Q2 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Broader sector risks — heightened talk of AI regulation and a Magnificent Seven rotation — keep pressure on valuations and can amplify moves in MSFT even when fundamentals are solid; this contributes to volatility until clarity on regulation and data-center costs emerges. Will Regulating AI Cripple AI Stocks?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSFT. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Melius Research set a $430.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.95.

Microsoft Company 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).