Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC decreased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,568,311 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 122,753 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.5% of Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned 0.06% of Microsoft worth $2,366,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Cinctive Capital Management LP grew its position in Microsoft by 148.4% during the third quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP now owns 25,918 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,424,000 after buying an additional 15,485 shares during the period. Circle Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the third quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 107,830 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $55,851,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 58,115 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $30,101,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 751,022 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $388,992,000 after acquiring an additional 75,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 54,028 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,984,000 after acquiring an additional 13,195 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $392.00 price target (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft has a near-term product catalyst: a $99/month AI tools bundle (includes Copilot capabilities) with a May 1 launch that could drive commercial adoption and recurring ARR growth. Microsoft Is Racing to Beat Claude Cowork. A Big Catalyst for MSFT Stock Is Coming May 1.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding into healthcare AI with Copilot Health (can read medical records and provide personalized insights) and partner integrations, opening a large vertical market and cross‑sell opportunities for Azure and Copilot. Microsoft launched a new healthcare chatbot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft 365 E7 bundles Copilot, Anthropic’s Claude Cowork and security tools — a premium enterprise offering that can lift average revenue per user for large customers. Analysts continue to highlight AI-driven revenue upside. Microsoft’s New E7 AI Suite And Healthcare Push Shape Long-Term Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox/product cycle news: Microsoft is advancing Project Helix (next‑gen Xbox) but prototypes won’t reach developers until 2027 — positive for long-term console moat but not an immediate revenue driver. Microsoft’s Next Xbox Moves Closer to Reality: What It Means for MSFT Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Gaming/graphics tech progress (DirectX/advanced shader delivery with NVIDIA/Intel) reduces frictions for PC gaming and helps Xbox/Windows gaming competitiveness but is a more gradual, longer-term tailwind. DirectX Gears Up For ML Era On Windows
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about huge AI data‑center capex and public pushback over electricity/costs is weighing on the stock; large lease and buildouts boost growth but increase near‑term cash burn. Who is really footing the AI energy bill? Inside the debate about data center electricity costs
• Negative Sentiment: Security scare: reports of a new vulnerability in Microsoft Authenticator have spooked investors and triggered selling pressure tied to identity/security risk. New Vulnerability in Microsoft Authenticator Sends Microsoft Stock Sliding
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change: Rajesh Jha, a long‑time head of experiences and devices (Office/Copilot products), announced retirement — creates short‑term execution/transition uncertainty. Microsoft’s Rajesh Jha, head of experiences and devices unit, to retire
• Negative Sentiment: Options and flows show increased demand for downside protection (put-call skew steepening), reflecting trader caution after the pullback. Option traders moderately bearish in Microsoft with shareslittle changed

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $395.55 on Monday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $427.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $475.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st 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, May 21st. 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).