Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Makes New $248.40 Million Investment in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings purchased 665,910 Microsoft shares worth approximately $248.4 million, making Microsoft its 19th-largest position and about 1.1% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue; analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $589.71.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, while insiders have sold roughly 150,314 shares worth $75.4 million over the past 90 days.

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 665,910 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $248,398,000. Microsoft comprises about 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.7% during the second quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant's stock worth $549,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial raised its stake in Microsoft by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Planning LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,382,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant's stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant's stock worth $2,052,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 28th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Melius Research set a $665.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $529.05 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $505.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $440.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. Microsoft's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.