Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s Largest Position

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,412 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 6,275 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.3% of Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sherman Porfolios LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sherman Porfolios LLC now owns 456 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. PMG Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $828,000. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 2,520 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Financial Symmetry Inc increased its stake in Microsoft by 6.0% in the third quarter. Financial Symmetry Inc now owns 2,378 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Keel Point LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 57,722 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,897,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $590.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $660.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about 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 Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $418.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $472.02.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

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).