Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Covea Finance

Covea Finance raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 427,369 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,000 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 6.8% of Covea Finance’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Covea Finance’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $206,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,358 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,009,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,499 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 38,394 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $18,568,000 after buying an additional 1,422 shares during the last quarter. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Sulzberger Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,226 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,429,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 63.0% in the 4th quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC now owns 15,289 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $7,394,000 after buying an additional 5,908 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BofA reinstated coverage with a Buy rating and a $500 target, arguing Azure and Copilot momentum justify material upside — a prominent bullish signal for long‑term investors. BofA projects 31% rally
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual call‑option volume shows traders are buying at‑the‑money and slightly OTM calls today — a short‑term bullish signal that some investors expect a rebound or are hedging for upside. Investors piling into MSFT calls
• Positive Sentiment: Talent hires for Microsoft’s advanced AI teams (including experienced researchers under Mustafa Suleyman) reinforce MSFT’s long‑term AI capability and product road map. Microsoft hires AI researchers
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft agreed to rent a large Texas data‑center project that Oracle/OpenAI abandoned — this expands capacity but highlights industry competition for sites and local community approval challenges. Microsoft to rent Texas data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft President Brad Smith’s comments on investing in nuclear power and building AI guardrails signal long‑term infrastructure and safety focus — supportive for sustainability and compliance, but not an immediate earnings catalyst. Brad Smith on nuclear investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple short‑interest entries in feeds show anomalous/zero values (likely data noise) and do not indicate a meaningful rise in shorts today.
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI’s investor document flagged heavy dependence on Microsoft for funding and compute as a top risk — that disclosure raised concerns about the partnership’s stability and potential revenue recognition or strategic risk. OpenAI flags Microsoft dependence
• Negative Sentiment: News reports and analyst commentary point to a weak near‑term outlook and MSFT hitting new lows, triggering selling pressure as investors reassess near‑term growth vs. rising costs. Microsoft hits new low amid weak outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Melius and other analysts flagged reorganization of Copilot and broader heavy CapEx for AI as execution risks — investors worry monetization of Copilot and the $100–120B+ infrastructure spend will pressure margins before benefits materialize. Melius: Copilot reorg red flag

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 price objective (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.34.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $372.74 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $415.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $470.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $344.79 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis 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 presently 22.76%.

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).