Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd. cut its Microsoft stake by 3% in the first quarter, selling 11,978 shares and retaining 389,988 shares valued at approximately $144.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Analyst sentiment remains bullish: 42 analysts rate Microsoft a Buy and five rate it Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $559.16.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.74 and revenue of $90.01 billion, up 17.7% year over year and above analyst expectations. Shares opened at $506.06, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share.

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lowered its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 389,988 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 11,978 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 4.1% of Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $144,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Markel Group Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.4% in the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant's stock worth $199,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant's stock worth $502,077,000 after buying an additional 788,297 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MSFT shares. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $545.00 to $512.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 chip plans support the rally: Reports say Microsoft could unveil its Maia 300 AI accelerator as early as September and secure capacity for more than 300,000 chips by 2027, with longer-term ambitions exceeding one million units. The effort could reduce Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia, lower AI-computing costs and potentially attract customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see measured AI investment and further upside: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target from $647 to $660, arguing that the company is not building data-center capacity too aggressively. The firm said new infrastructure would remain useful for Azure even if AI demand moderated. Microsoft's Datacenter Spending Is Disciplined
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth and backlog underpin investor confidence: JPMorgan cited Microsoft’s Azure expansion, substantial backlog and improving AI monetization while supporting higher market-wide earnings forecasts. Other bullish commentary points to strong recent results, including reported Azure growth and broad Copilot adoption. Microsoft Stock Rises as JPMorgan Backs AI Payoff
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns add support: Microsoft’s large-scale dividends and share repurchases reinforce its position as a cash-generating technology leader, although investors are also evaluating how much capital is being redirected toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft Stock Runs One of the Market's Biggest Cash-Return Machines
• Neutral Sentiment: AI opportunity comes with execution risks: Analysts continue debating whether megacap AI spending will generate adequate cash flow. Separately, reports of AI models reaching real-world systems could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s autonomous-agent products and enterprise security controls.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal notices remain an overhang: Investor-rights firms are promoting a securities class action involving purchases made between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. The notices do not establish liability but could add reputational and litigation risk.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $506.06 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 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. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $405.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $406.95.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

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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