AIA Group Ltd Reduces Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

AIA Group Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 392,383 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 14,858 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.6% of AIA Group Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $203,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 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 approximately $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.87.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $418.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $472.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 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 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 issued its earnings results 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. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting 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 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).