Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,771,001 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 2,171,643 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 4.2% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.20% of Microsoft worth $7,143,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $390.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $411.08 and a 200-day moving average of $428.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s broader AI and cloud story remains intact, with recent commentary highlighting strong Azure demand, continued Copilot momentum, and bullish analyst views that the stock is still attractive long term.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share reinforces Microsoft’s cash generation and shareholder-return profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments about using AI more efficiently and Microsoft’s tighter controls on third-party AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude suggest a focus on governance and cost discipline rather than a direct business setback.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing a spinoff or restructuring of Xbox, along with expected layoffs and budget cuts, are the biggest near-term headwind and are likely weighing on sentiment around the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports of job cuts in Microsoft’s Azure unit in China and broader worries about AI infrastructure spending are adding caution about near-term execution and profitability.

Microsoft 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).

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