Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s 4th Largest Position

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 288,546 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 136,637 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 3.4% of Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $149,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9%

MSFT opened at $391.79 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $473.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Melius Research set a $430.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $392.00 price target (down from $540.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.95.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management is consolidating Copilot product teams to unify commercial and consumer offerings, appointing Jacob Andreou to lead the effort — a move aimed at faster product coherence and adoption that should help monetize Copilot across enterprise and consumer segments. Microsoft unifies Copilot teams (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage highlight that Microsoft is increasingly monetizing AI beyond raw infrastructure — growing Copilot subscription revenue and Agent 365 updates that expand enterprise spend on AI, supporting Azure revenue growth. Wall Street Is Wrong About This AI Cloud Stock (Fool)
• Positive Sentiment: Talent and partnerships: Microsoft hired the Cove AI collaboration team and continues research collaborations (e.g., MediaTek on data‑center optics), signaling continued investment in AI/IP and infrastructure efficiency. These moves support long‑term competitiveness in cloud and model building. Microsoft hires Cove team (TechCrunch)
• Neutral Sentiment: Wider market weakness in technology is weighing on MSFT along with mixed investor commentary and options activity; some investors highlight long‑term strength while others flag valuation and capex concerns. Sector Update: Tech Stocks Retreat (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly weighing legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a reported $50B OpenAI–Amazon cloud deal that could erode Microsoft’s preferential relationship with OpenAI — a high‑stakes dispute that threatens Azure competitive advantages and future model access. Microsoft weighs legal action over Amazon‑OpenAI deal (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Security risk: U.S. agencies advised companies to harden Microsoft’s endpoint management tool after the Stryker medical‑device cyberattack, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in enterprise management tooling and potential remediation costs or reputational impact. US agency advisory after Stryker cyberattack (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: AI execution scrutiny: Critical coverage and commentary about reassignments within Microsoft’s AI leadership and product performance versus competitors (claims of product lag) may amplify short‑term investor concern about execution and timing to close gaps with rivals. Microsoft reshuffles AI team (FT)

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).