Investment Research Partners LLC Buys Shares of 12,152 Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Investment Research Partners LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 12,152 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $6,581,000. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.0% of Investment Research Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambria Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Microsoft by 324.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 17,908 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,275,000 after purchasing an additional 13,687 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,584 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,857,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the third quarter worth $1,131,000. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. now owns 20,053 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,386,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.7% in the third quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,103 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $4,728,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This trade represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. This trade 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSFT. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $667.00 to $588.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $641.00 price target (down from $645.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.87.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI tie-up is driving new customer wins and adoption of Microsoft AI products, supporting recurring revenue growth and Copilot monetization. How Microsoft’s (MSFT) OpenAI Partnership Is Bringing in a New Wave of Customers
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts point to an AI-fueled Azure surge and a large enterprise backlog (reported as a material competitive edge vs. peers like Adobe), supporting medium-term revenue upside. Microsoft vs. Adobe: Which Software Giant Has Better Upside Potential?
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partner activity (e.g., Accenture collaborations and ecosystem integrations) reinforces Microsoft’s position in enterprise security and AI services, which can deepen customer stickiness and drive incremental services revenue. Accenture Expands AI-Driven Cybersecurity Capabilities with Microsoft Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Traders and retail investors are seeing increased options activity and yield strategies (but these are tactical, not fundamental). Some traders propose structured trades (butterfly, income ETFs) to play the pullback. Transform Microsoft Stock Weakness Into A $1,700 Payoff With A Butterfly Trade
• Neutral Sentiment: Large-cap active ETFs continue to hold Microsoft as a core position, which can stabilize flows even during sell-offs (institutional ETF flows are a background influence on demand).
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI exclusivity appears at risk as OpenAI talks with Amazon, and reports say Microsoft is considering legal action — a potential breakdown of the partnership would materially weaken MSFT’s AI moat and Azure demand assumptions. Microsoft Weighs Legal Fight As OpenAI Amazon Talks Test Azure Edge
• Negative Sentiment: Policy/contract changes in local government dealings (NDAs and procurement) have been cited as a trigger for some municipal and public-sector deals to slow, which analysts say pressured the stock in intraday trading. No More NDAs: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slumps After Change in Local Government Dealings
• Negative Sentiment: Security incidents continue to create headlines: a U.S. agency urged firms to harden a Microsoft endpoint tool after the Stryker attack, and reports of SharePoint being used as an attack vector raise enterprise risk and potential remediation costs. These keep risk-premiums elevated for MSFT. US agency asks companies to secure Microsoft tool after Stryker cyberattack
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about rising infrastructure and AI compute costs that have pressured margins despite solid top-line beats; commentary that the stock has been “slammed” this year reflects worry about near-term margin compression and valuation re-rating. Microsoft Stock Has Been Absolutely Slammed This Year. Is It Finally Time to Buy?

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $381.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $418.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.91 dividend. 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).