Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 353,683 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,958 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.1% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $183,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total value of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MSFT. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild Redb downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, November 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $611.87.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched the Maia 200 AI inference chip, which the company says delivers roughly 30% better performance-per-dollar and will be deployed in U.S. data centers — a direct play on lowering inference costs, improving gross margins for Azure/Copilot, and reducing reliance on third-party GPUs. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side and independent analysts are broadly bullish ahead of Q2, forecasting strong Azure and AI adoption that could drive another “robust” quarter; several previews expect revenue and AI‑driven growth to beat or justify premium multiples. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming Q2 earnings (Jan. 28) and the Fed meeting make this a volatile catalyst week — investors are focused on forward guidance and margins (not just trailing revenue), so the stock could swing on the tone of management’s commentary. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: some firms trimmed targets (Bank of America lowered its PT), while others maintain buy/outperform ratings — this produces conflicting near‑term signals despite a generally bullish long‑term view. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk: a class‑action suit targets an AI hiring tool (Eightfold) used by Microsoft and others, raising headline risk around AI product governance and potential reputational/legal costs. Read More.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.9%

MSFT opened at $470.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $500.97. 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 cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $77.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.45% and a net margin of 35.71%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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).