Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s 3rd Largest Position

Cullen Investment Group LTD. lessened its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,479 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 4,758 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 5.2% of Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $40,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $392.00 target price (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 5th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.97.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large Asia infrastructure commitments: Microsoft said it will invest about $5.5B in Singapore and $1B in Thailand to build cloud and AI data‑center capacity, strengthening long‑term revenue visibility for Azure and enterprise AI services. WSJ: Microsoft Plans to Invest $5.5 Billion in Singapore
• Positive Sentiment: Energy supply de‑risking for AI buildout: Microsoft entered an exclusivity deal with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to explore a ~2.5GW (potentially 5GW) gas‑powered complex in West Texas to power large data centers — a strategic move to secure power and reduce one key constraint on AI scaling. Reuters: Microsoft, Chevron and Engine No. 1 sign exclusive deal
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst backing and higher targets: Multiple firms initiated or raised coverage (Benchmark buy initiation, New Street target hike and other bullish notes), keeping a majority of analysts constructive and implying significant upside from current levels. This institutional support can cushion near‑term downside. Yahoo Finance: What Do Analysts Say About Microsoft?
• Neutral Sentiment: Governance and safety moves: Microsoft unveiled new AI tools (a “Critique and Council” approach) aimed at improving model oversight and trust — helpful for long‑term adoption but unlikely to move near‑term revenue. Yahoo: Microsoft Just Unveiled New AI Tools
• Neutral Sentiment: Org restructure for AI: Microsoft reshuffled its AI org to consolidate go‑to‑market and product execution — a long‑term constructive step but with execution risk during the transition. Fool: Microsoft Reshuffled Its Entire AI Organization
• Negative Sentiment: Weak quarterly reaction and ROI concerns: Investors punished the stock after Q1, calling out elevated capex for AI, slower Copilot adoption and uncertainty over the return on massive infrastructure spending — the core reason for the recent pullback. CNBC: Microsoft closes worst quarter since 2008
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/competition risk: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has launched a probe into Microsoft’s business‑software ecosystem and cloud licensing, adding litigation and regulatory overhang. Reuters: UK to launch antitrust probe into Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and sentiment pressures: The stock recently breached its 200‑week moving average and suffered heavy dip selling; social‑media and technical chatter is amplifying downside risk in the short term. Insider sales are also noted in public filings. QuiverQuant: Opinions on Breaching 200‑Week Moving Average

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,905 shares in the company, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value 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 $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $369.37 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $404.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.55. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued 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%.Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

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).