Graphene Investments SAS Sells 1,200 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Graphene Investments SAS trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,600 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 4.1% of Graphene Investments SAS’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $6,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of 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 approximately $32,000. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 386.7% in the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $485.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.40. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $499.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $502.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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 other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.64, for a total transaction of $19,967,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 461,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $639.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $595.00 to $625.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Microsoft from $630.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.03.

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).