Acadian Asset Management LLC Has $701.46 Million Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation by 0.8%, owning approximately 1.87 million shares valued at $701.46 million, making it the firm's 7th largest position.
• In related insider activity, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares for nearly $75.32 million, representing a 15.87% decrease in his ownership.
• Analysts have generally positive outlooks for Microsoft's stock, with a consensus price target of $612.54 and multiple firms raising their target prices, indicating strong investor sentiment.

Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,868,696 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 14,653 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.0% of Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $701,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ball & Co Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Newton One Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 75 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $399,206,272.56. This trade represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $480.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up from $600.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $612.54.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $509.90 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $510.55 and a 200-day moving average of $454.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $344.79 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 32.44%. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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