Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Holdings Cut by Korea Investment CORP

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP trimmed its Microsoft stake by 0.6% in Q3, selling 32,932 shares and now holds 5,370,608 shares (about 0.07% of MSFT) valued at $2.78 billion, making MSFT its third‑largest position (~5.7% of the portfolio).
• Microsoft beat earnings and revenue for the quarter (EPS $4.14 vs. $3.86 estimate; revenue $81.27B vs. $80.28B), reported 16.7% YoY revenue growth, and declared a $0.91 quarterly dividend (annualized $3.64, yield ~0.9%).
• Sell‑side sentiment is largely positive with a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.95; institutional investors own about 71% of the stock and market cap is near $3 trillion.

Korea Investment CORP cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,370,608 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 32,932 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 5.7% of Korea Investment CORP's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.07% of Microsoft worth $2,781,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $401.86 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $429.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $476.96. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.28 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 32.34%. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $520.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $600.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.95.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, Director John W. Stanton acquired 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sell‑side support remains strong — several firms have reiterated buys/outperform and bullish price targets, which underpins long‑term investor confidence. William Blair reiterates Outperform on Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum — Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Health, agentic Copilot features across Office apps, and the new Microsoft 365 E7 AI bundle (adds Anthropic Claude Cowork, Agent 365, Entra), all of which support higher‑value commercial monetization and stickier cloud revenue. Copilot Health paves path to medical superintelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Social and trader sentiment is highlighting agentic Copilot and AI infrastructure leadership as reasons for near‑term support and potential upside if resistance breaks. Quiver Quant summary of Agentic Copilot buzz
• Neutral Sentiment: Xbox roadmap and gaming hardware (Project Helix prototypes to developers in 2027) bolster long‑term diversification but have limited near‑term revenue impact. CNBC on Project Helix
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price targets remain elevated (median targets well above current levels) and institutional positioning is mixed — supportive for a medium‑term recovery but not an immediate catalyst. Zacks on analyst views
• Negative Sentiment: High and rising capital expenditures for AI data centers are a near‑term earnings headwind; investor letters and coverage flag capex intensity as a reason MSFT has underperformed peers despite strong top‑line growth. InsiderMonkey on data center capex concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Leadership change — Rajesh Jha, a senior exec tied to Office/Copilot rollouts, is retiring; markets tend to discount execution risk when key product leaders depart. Reuters on Rajesh Jha retirement
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/political risk — Microsoft’s public support for Anthropic in its legal fight with the Pentagon raises short‑term uncertainty around government contracting and could create customer/contract exposure. FT: Microsoft backs Anthropic vs Pentagon
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and market‑structure risk — rotation out of megacap tech and warnings about midterm‑year volatility are pressuring MSFT along with peers. Technical support levels around the recent pullback are being watched by traders. MarketBeat mid‑March market warning

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).

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