Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Ewa LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Ewa LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,809 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 2.4% of Ewa LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Ewa LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $8,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,493,678,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after purchasing an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,077,786 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $350,712,742,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after buying an additional 11,600,470 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi reiterated a Buy on Microsoft, highlighting continued Copilot adoption and strong Azure growth as reasons the company can outpace the recent sell-off. Microsoft in focus as Citi reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying: director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares (~$2M), a behavioral vote of confidence that can help stabilize sentiment among retail/institutional investors. Microsoft Director John Stanton Buys 5,000 Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s extended OpenAI revenue arrangement (locking a meaningful share of OpenAI output through 2032) is a multi-year revenue and strategic moat tailwind for AI monetization. As Microsoft extends 20% OpenAI deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft announced a large long-term commitment to expand AI access in the Global South (reported ~$50B), a growth opportunity that also implies heavy multi-year capex and execution risk. Microsoft to invest $50B in Global South AI push
• Neutral Sentiment: Partnerships and marketplace traction (e.g., CrowdStrike on Microsoft Marketplace) reinforce enterprise ecosystem stickiness but have limited immediate revenue impact. Falcon on Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change in gaming: Phil Spencer’s immediate retirement and replacement by Asha Sharma introduces near-term uncertainty for Xbox strategy and investor confidence in the gaming unit. Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer retires
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel downgraded MSFT (Buy→Hold) and cut its price target, citing Azure supply constraints as a near-term growth headwind — a concrete analyst call that can pressure flows and justify further volatility. Stifel flags Azure supply constraints
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh AI quality/security reports (Copilot/Office bug and “AI recommendation poisoning” threats) raise short-term adoption and reputational risk that could delay enterprise deployments and weigh on sentiment. AI recommendation poisoning concerns

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $641.00 target price (down previously from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $392.00 price target (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Microsoft from $632.00 to $659.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, February 12th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.95.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $397.23 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $452.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $488.33. The company has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. Microsoft’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).