A4 Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

A4 Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,607 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,386,000. Microsoft accounts for about 2.0% of A4 Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 grew its stake 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 buying an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,532,054 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% in 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. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSFT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $641.00 price objective (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of MSFT opened at $392.74 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $443.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $483.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at BNP and others say OpenAI’s large new funding round should still benefit Microsoft because of its deep Azure and infrastructure ties — a reminder that MSFT remains a key AI partner and infrastructure provider. OpenAI’s massive funding round should benefit Microsoft, Oracle: BNP
• Positive Sentiment: An insider (director Stanton John) bought roughly $2M of MSFT stock, signalling confidence from management-level insiders during the pullback. Director Stanton John Just Bought $2 Million of Microsoft Stock
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat / Altimetry note that Microsoft is “at the center of AI” with high switching costs and under-appreciated fundamentals — an argument that current valuation weakness is sentiment-driven and could reverse. AI Is Separating Software Winners From Losers, 2 Experts Explain
• Positive Sentiment: Dynamics 365 business applications continue to post solid mid-teens to high‑teens growth and are cited as a consistent driver of Productivity & Business Processes revenue — a durable growth stream beyond Azure. Can Microsoft Stock Rally on Dynamics 365 Business Applications?
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced its next quarterly dividend payable March 13 — a steady income signal but unlikely to move the stock materially amid the current narrative-driven trading. Microsoft to pay dividends on March 13; Here’s how much 100 MSFT shares will earn
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction to OpenAI’s announcement cut both ways: Microsoft wasn’t named among some of the latest funding/partner headlines, prompting investor worry about its standing with OpenAI and driving selling pressure. What’s Behind The Drop In Microsoft Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Japan’s authorities carried out a raid tied to suspected antitrust issues around Microsoft’s cloud business, raising regulatory risk in a major market. Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law, source says
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/real‑estate headwinds: reports of data center/building delays and related execution noise have been cited as a near-term drag on sentiment. “On Hold Until Further Notice”: Microsoft Stock Slumps With Building Delay
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI-capex and semiconductor market jitters (Nvidia-centric weakness) are depressing the megacap tech complex; investors are weighing heavy industry capex against margins and balance-sheet strain. That macro pressure is spilling over to Microsoft. Nvidia Fails to Reassure—Heard on the Street

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).