New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 11,700 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• New Mexico Educational Retirement Board sold 11,700 shares of Microsoft, trimming its stake by 3.4% to 335,747 shares worth $173.9 million, which represents about 5.4% of the fund's holdings and is its second-largest position.
• Notable insider activity: EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares for roughly $5.05 million (an 8.2% reduction), while director John W. Stanton purchased 5,000 shares; insiders currently own about 0.03% of MSFT.
• Microsoft beat quarterly expectations (EPS $4.14 vs. $3.86) and announced a $0.91 quarterly dividend ($3.64 annual, ~1.0% yield); analysts rate the stock a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target near $591.87, though risks include potential OpenAI exclusivity issues, security incidents, and rising AI infrastructure costs.

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 335,747 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 11,700 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.4% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Microsoft were worth $173,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

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

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50 day moving average is $418.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $472.25. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $344.79 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 32.34% and a net margin of 39.04%.The business had revenue of $81.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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 issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MSFT. HSBC dropped their price objective 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. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $591.87.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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?

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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