Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Academy Capital Management’s 2nd Largest Position

Academy Capital Management reduced its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,135 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 13,081 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 9.8% of Academy Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Academy Capital Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $68,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd 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 purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value 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. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI tie-up is driving new customer wins and adoption of Microsoft AI products, supporting recurring revenue growth and Copilot monetization. How Microsoft’s (MSFT) OpenAI Partnership Is Bringing in a New Wave of Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to an AI-fueled Azure surge and a large enterprise backlog (reported as a material competitive edge vs. peers like Adobe), supporting medium-term revenue upside. Microsoft vs. Adobe: Which Software Giant Has Better Upside Potential?
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partner activity (e.g., Accenture collaborations and ecosystem integrations) reinforces Microsoft’s position in enterprise security and AI services, which can deepen customer stickiness and drive incremental services revenue. Accenture Expands AI-Driven Cybersecurity Capabilities with Microsoft Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders and retail investors are seeing increased options activity and yield strategies (but these are tactical, not fundamental). Some traders propose structured trades (butterfly, income ETFs) to play the pullback. Transform Microsoft Stock Weakness Into A $1,700 Payoff With A Butterfly Trade
• Neutral Sentiment: Large-cap active ETFs continue to hold Microsoft as a core position, which can stabilize flows even during sell-offs (institutional ETF flows are a background influence on demand).
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI exclusivity appears at risk as OpenAI talks with Amazon, and reports say Microsoft is considering legal action — a potential breakdown of the partnership would materially weaken MSFT’s AI moat and Azure demand assumptions. Microsoft Weighs Legal Fight As OpenAI Amazon Talks Test Azure Edge
• Negative Sentiment: Policy/contract changes in local government dealings (NDAs and procurement) have been cited as a trigger for some municipal and public-sector deals to slow, which analysts say pressured the stock in intraday trading. No More NDAs: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slumps After Change in Local Government Dealings
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents continue to create headlines: a U.S. agency urged firms to harden a Microsoft endpoint tool after the Stryker attack, and reports of SharePoint being used as an attack vector raise enterprise risk and potential remediation costs. These keep risk-premiums elevated for MSFT. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about rising infrastructure and AI compute costs that have pressured margins despite solid top-line beats; commentary that the stock has been “slammed” this year reflects worry about near-term margin compression and valuation re-rating. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?

Microsoft Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $381.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $418.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $472.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Evercore decreased their target price on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.87.

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).