Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Buys 1,262 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 92,842 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,262 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 2.9% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $49,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 342 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,761 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Onyx Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,536,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA raised its holdings in Microsoft by 1.6% in the second quarter. Foundation Wealth Management LLC PA now owns 1,276 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s sovereign-cloud collaboration with Capgemini and other partner wins are being highlighted by the market as validating recurring, enterprise cloud demand—supporting Azure’s long-term pipeline. Microsoft Stock Rises on Sovereign Cloud Collab
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft clarified Copilot user metrics after the quarter, which helped calm some investor uncertainty about adoption of its AI products. Microsoft Fills in Gaps on Copilot Numbers
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft rolled out fixes for actively exploited Windows/Office zero-day vulnerabilities—reducing regulatory and security risk for enterprise customers. Microsoft says hackers are exploiting critical zero-day bugs
• Positive Sentiment: R&D/infra progress: Microsoft is exploring superconducting power lines to make data centers more energy-efficient, a potential long-term cost and sustainability advantage for its capex-heavy buildout. Microsoft exploring using advanced power lines
• Positive Sentiment: Partner ecosystem momentum: ESW’s MissionReady365 and FPT’s inclusion in Gartner’s Microsoft 365 services guide reflect ongoing third‑party demand and channel depth for Microsoft 365/Azure services. ESW Launches MissionReady365 FPT Recognized in Gartner Market Guide
• Positive Sentiment: Large investors: Fisher Asset Management and Crake Asset Management reported sizeable increases in MSFT holdings, signaling institutional conviction among some managers. Fisher Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake Crake Asset Management Boosts Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Several bullish commentaries argue MSFT is a structural winner in software and cloud consolidation, framing recent weakness as a buying opportunity for long‑term investors. If Software Is Dead, Microsoft Wins
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector notes: Strategists flag the software pullback as a potential rebound trade; quantum and AI narratives are cited as multi-year upside but carry execution uncertainty. AI disruption fears create buying chance Quantum Hype vs. Profits
• Negative Sentiment: Primary sell pressure: investors are spooked by a deceleration in Azure growth and conservative guidance tied to heavy AI capex, which is the main reason MSFT traded down after earnings. Why Microsoft’s Cloud Migrations Matter More Than Its AI Hype
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and investor pullbacks: Melius downgrade and several institutional trims (Morningstar, Vulcan, smaller SCS sale) signal near‑term skepticism about margin pressure and capex discipline. Stock Slips on Melius Downgrade Morningstar Cuts Microsoft Position
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: post‑earnings volatility and the stock’s YTD decline reflect investor repricing for the near‑term hit to free cash flow and margins from AI infrastructure spending. Microsoft is Bouncing Back from Its Post-Earnings Price Crash

Microsoft Trading Down 2.2%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $404.37 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $463.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $494.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSFT. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price target on Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Microsoft from $575.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 129,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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).