Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Daiwa Securities Group increased its Microsoft stake by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 275,511 additional shares and bringing its total to 3.16 million shares worth about $1.53 billion.
• Microsoft’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, and analysts remain generally bullish with an average rating of Moderate Buy and a target price around $561.20.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,163,712 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 275,511 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 4.9% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,530,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% during the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the third quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the third quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant's stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,434,201.60. This represents a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,262 shares of company stock valued at $8,695,581. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $410.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $429.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are showing bullish sentiment toward Microsoft, with unusually heavy buying in long-dated call options suggesting some traders expect upside from here. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its cash-generation and shareholder-return profile. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MN8 Energy said two solar projects totaling 260 MW are now online under long-term power purchase agreements with Microsoft, supporting its AI/data-center infrastructure needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding AI and cloud partnerships, including new agentic AI collaborations and Copilot-related deployments, which supports the long-term growth narrative but also underscores ongoing AI spending pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is reportedly cutting hundreds of jobs in its Azure unit in China, highlighting regulatory friction and weaker operating conditions in a key market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Xbox is planning major layoffs and budget cuts next month are adding to concerns about slower growth and restructuring costs in Microsoft’s gaming division. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is also limiting employee use of Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 over data-retention concerns, a reminder of the risks and competitive tensions around AI tools and partners. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price objective (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, June 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.20.

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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