Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Cut by Oxbow Advisors LLC

Oxbow Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 78,442 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,217 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 3.8% of Oxbow Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Melius Research set a $430.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, February 9th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.08. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $489.92. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft secured a deal to lock in a 20% share of OpenAI’s revenue through 2032 — a material, long-duration cash-flow stream that reinforces MSFT’s strategic AI partnership and upside if OpenAI monetizes broadly. Microsoft Locks In 20% Of OpenAI’s Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 MSFT shares, signaling management confidence and giving investors a modest behavioral vote of confidence. Insider Purchase: Director at $MSFT Buys 5,000 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reaffirmed its renewable-energy commitments—continuing to match its electricity needs with clean power as it scales data-center capacity, which reduces regulatory/ESG risk for long-term investors. Microsoft to keep buying renewable energy to match electricity needs
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street interest: notes calling Microsoft “under-owned” and continued buy/overweight ratings (and a median price target well above current levels) provide conviction for inflows from institutional investors. Morgan Stanley: Microsoft is under-owned
• Neutral Sentiment: Global growth push: Microsoft says it’s on pace to invest ~$50B in AI across the “Global South” through 2030 — a major long-term market expansion that could drive growth but also requires heavy up-front capex and multi-year execution. Microsoft $50B Global South AI push
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships/marketplace traction: CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform is now on Microsoft Marketplace, easing procurement for customers and reinforcing MSFT’s enterprise security ecosystem (incremental revenue/ stickiness but limited immediate top-line impact). Falcon on Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: AI risks and bugs: reports of a Copilot/Office bug and new “AI recommendation poisoning” threats have raised short-term security and quality concerns around Microsoft’s AI products, which can pressure enterprise adoption sentiment. New AI-Related Bug Does Not Dampen Microsoft Stock AI Recommendation Poisoning
• Negative Sentiment: Investor rotation and spending concerns: some funds are trimming MSFT amid worries that aggressive AI infrastructure and capex could weigh near-term margins — paired with downgrades and headlines about investor selling that create volatility. Investors Dump Microsoft Shares Melius Research Downgrades Microsoft

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).