Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Decreases Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,450 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,652 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.6% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bulwark Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $675.00 target price on Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $485.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $344.79 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $499.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $502.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The software giant reported $4.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.48. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.71% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The business had revenue of $77.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and coverage point to improving AI economics — reports say Azure AI margins are positive and revenue is likely to beat estimates, supporting near-term earnings upside and giving investors confidence in cloud monetization. Azure AI margins article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion of investment in AI and cloud infrastructure in India — a large, long-term growth initiative that should expand Azure adoption and enterprise spending in a major emerging market. India investment article
• Positive Sentiment: New enterprise partnerships (Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro) and a Cognizant-led push to scale Microsoft 365/GitHub Copilot & agentic AI deployments could accelerate commercial adoption and drive higher software and Azure consumption. Partnerships article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined the U.S. “Genesis Mission” AI initiative alongside top AI firms — positioning MSFT to capture government and scientific AI spend and reinforcing strategic leadership in national AI programs. Genesis Mission article
• Positive Sentiment: Partner-channel and device news helped sentiment — LG’s reported backpedal on making Copilot mandatory drove a small positive knee-jerk move, easing concerns about forced integrations and signaling partner flexibility. LG Copilot article
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary frames MSFT as a durable AI/dividend play — pieces highlighting dividend/long-term strength keep buy-and-hold narratives alive but are unlikely to move price materially on their own. MarketBeat dividend article
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer-product updates (Office 2024 upgrade) and legacy product refreshes support steady software sales, but are lower-impact versus cloud/AI developments. Office 2024 article
• Negative Sentiment: Jim Cramer warned that Microsoft “requires mass spending” to keep Azure competitive — a direct headline that reinforces investor worries about rising capex and margin pressure as MSFT scales data centers and AI infrastructure. Cramer spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/tech jitters and commentary about “ballooning” capex have pressured the stock in recent weeks; that narrative could cap multiple expansion until evidence of durable margin recovery is clear. CapEx concerns article

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total value of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872. Company 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).