BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Decreases Stock Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Asset Management reduced its stake in Microsoft by 9.2% in Q1, now holding nearly $1.86 billion worth of shares, representing about 5.0% of its investment portfolio.
• Microsoft reported earnings of $3.65 per share for Q2, surpassing consensus estimates, with revenues of $76.44 billion—an 18.1% increase year-over-year.
• Analyst upgrades for Microsoft have recently increased price targets to as high as $675.00, reflecting strong confidence in the company's growth trajectory.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. decreased its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,950,935 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 500,589 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 5.0% of BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s holdings, making the stock its largest position. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.07% of Microsoft worth $1,858,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fosun International Ltd boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fosun International Ltd now owns 6,633 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,490,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 3.5% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 704 shares of the software giant's stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 5,617 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Guidance Point Advisors LLC now owns 4,294 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orin Green Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% during the first quarter. Orin Green Financial LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the software giant's stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

MSFT stock traded up $8.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $509.90. 23,604,030 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,166,082. The company has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $510.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $344.79 and a 52 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%.The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.95 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Microsoft has set its Q1 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 149,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.78, for a total transaction of $75,315,699.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 790,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $399,206,272.56. The trade was a 15.87% 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 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,624,012.52. This represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $490.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $612.54.

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.