Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,858,135 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 166,038 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.7% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,185,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BLVD Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia unveiled its RTX Spark / N1X AI PC chip in partnership with Microsoft, and multiple reports say this validates Microsoft’s push into “agentic” Windows PCs and could open a new growth avenue in AI-enabled devices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Build 2026 conference begins June 2, and investors are positioning for product and AI announcements that could showcase new Copilot, cloud, and developer tools. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary has turned more constructive, with one new call highlighting Microsoft’s upside potential as AI demand and enterprise adoption continue to support revenue growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles focused on Microsoft’s broader AI strategy, including new coding-model competition with Google and OpenAI and a redesigned Microsoft 365 Copilot interface, which signals continued investment but no immediate earnings impact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary noted Microsoft is benefiting from a bullish technical setup, with shares moving above the 200-day moving average and sentiment improving after a weak start to the year. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One report raised concerns about internal employee sentiment and increased performance pressure at Microsoft, which is not an immediate stock driver but could point to execution strain if it persists. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Citizens Jmp started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. They issued a “market outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. Melius Research set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, February 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Arete Research increased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Forty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $460.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $403.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $433.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders 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 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% 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.

Microsoft Company 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).