Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Fidelis Capital Partners LLC

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,660 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,834 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.4% of Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $56,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $350,712,742,000 after buying an additional 13,691,572 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,166,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the 2nd 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 bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Microsoft by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas / Microsoft discussion suggests OpenAI’s updated spending plan still benefits cloud providers — Microsoft weighed in on OpenAI and Anthropic during a BNP sit-down, with analysts framing OpenAI’s revised spending as a net positive for Microsoft’s Azure and AI services. Microsoft weighs in on OpenAI, Anthropic, and AI spending during BNP sit-down
• Positive Sentiment: Options-market bullish signal may attract short-term buying — an ultra-rare bullish technical/options setup was flagged by traders, drawing attention to potential tactical inflows into MSFT options/stock. Microsoft Stock Just Flashed an Ultra-Rare Bullish Signal for Options Traders
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink expands connectivity and enterprise reach — new Starlink collaboration supports Microsoft’s global access and Orbital AI initiatives, a strategic move to extend Azure/AI services into underserved regions. Microsoft and SpaceX’s Starlink partner on global community internet effort
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic partnerships ease fears that AI will displace software — Anthropic’s enterprise integrations (including plugins that work with Excel) have calmed some investor anxiety about AI eating traditional software revenue, indirectly supporting Microsoft’s ecosystem value. Anthropic eases software’s AI fears with enterprise partnerships
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox leadership change ties gaming to AI strategy — Phil Spencer’s retirement and Asha Sharma’s promotion from CoreAI signal Microsoft will lean gaming further into AI, which may be strategic long‑term but is execution dependent. Microsoft Ties Xbox Leadership To AI Cloud And Security Ambitions
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry notes: Evercore highlights Microsoft’s free cash flow resilience amid hyperscaler capex — a soothing data point versus peers even as capex rises. Microsoft stands out as lone Mag 7 hyperscaler to increase FCF during AI capex splurge: Evercore
• Negative Sentiment: High AI capex and valuation concerns keep pressure on shares — analysts and stories (including a deep-dive on Microsoft’s multibillion capex plans) continue to raise questions about timing and returns on massive data-center spending. Microsoft’s $83.09 Billion Decision Could Shape What Happens Next
• Negative Sentiment: Technicals signal risk — coverage highlights MSFT’s selloff approaching a long‑term support crossroads (200‑week), which could intensify volatility if broken. Microsoft’s selloff is approaching a critical crossroads unseen in over 10 years
• Negative Sentiment: Public criticism from investors (Michael Burry) claims aggressive accounting to understate AI costs — such headlines can ratchet short-term selling and heighten regulatory/market scrutiny. Michael Burry Warns MSFT, GOOG, META Are Using ‘Sinister’ Accounting To Hide AI Costs, Inflate Profits By 20%

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $389.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $448.58 and a 200-day moving average of $485.89. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).