Guardian Financial Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Guardian Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,896 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.1% of Guardian Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Guardian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chapin Davis Inc. raised its holdings in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 32,693 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $16,934,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.2% in the third quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 29,439 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,248,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 73,466.7% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,449 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $8,002,000 after purchasing an additional 15,428 shares during the last quarter. NavPoint Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the third quarter. NavPoint Financial Inc. now owns 2,806 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Embree Financial Group lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. Embree Financial Group now owns 53,676 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,802,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore named Microsoft a top software pick for 2026, citing enterprise software strength and AI exposure—boosts investor confidence in MSFT’s secular growth story. Microsoft, Salesforce Lead Evercore’s 2026 Picks
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile bullish calls (Wedbush/Dan Ives and others) forecast a big AI-driven revenue bump in 2026 and reaffirm outperform ratings and lofty price targets, supporting upward pressure on the stock. Microsoft Stock Has 29% Upside in 2026, Says Dan Ives
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s internal dev move to standardize code (shifting priorities among languages) is being framed as productivity and engineering efficiency wins that can lower costs and speed product delivery. C Out, Rust In: Microsoft Stock Gains With New Code Standardization Plan
• Positive Sentiment: Analyses arguing Microsoft could be a top AI beneficiary in 2026 (scale of Azure, Copilot integrations, data-center investment) underpin long-term upside expectations for enterprise cloud and AI revenue. Why Microsoft Could Be the Biggest AI Winner in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Policy change: DHS is replacing the H‑1B lottery with a weighted selection prioritizing higher-paid, skilled hires; Microsoft was a top recipient—this alters talent sourcing dynamics but the net impact on MSFT hiring/costs is ambiguous. Trump administration moves to overhaul H-1B visas
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector pieces positioning AI as the dominant 2026 investment theme keep Microsoft in investors’ watch lists but also raise expectations and scrutiny around capex and margin trade-offs. Three must-own stocks if AI spending will remain strong in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Execution concerns: reports that Satya Nadella pushed teams on Copilot progress and commentary that OpenAI ties may be a liability have raised questions about adoption, execution risk, and partnership complexity. These stories can pressure the stock despite bullish AI forecasts. Microsoft CEO Pushes Staff on Copilot Ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Critical analysis warns of overbuilding (heavy AI capex) and OpenAI-related risks which could weigh on margins and capital intensity if revenue ramp is slower than expected. Microsoft: Not Immune To The Risk Of Overbuilding

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $640.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $682.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.03.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $486.85 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $498.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $503.53. 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 1 year low of $344.79 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 38,500 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 461,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,402,668.08. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total transaction of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,703,959.04. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,100 shares of company stock valued at $27,598,872. Corporate 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).