Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD Purchases New Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD purchased 115,748 Microsoft shares worth approximately $43.2 million, making Microsoft 1.8% of its portfolio and its 17th-largest holding.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 17.7% year over year and EPS of $4.74 exceeding estimates. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $571.18.
• Microsoft increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share, while investors continue to weigh accelerating Azure and AI growth against elevated valuation, heavy infrastructure spending and recent insider selling.

Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 115,748 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $43,176,000. Microsoft makes up 1.8% of Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after purchasing an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Microsoft by 30.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after buying an additional 2,784,809 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after acquiring an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Microsoft by 64.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism is supporting MSFT. Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and reportedly raised its price target to $725, citing accelerating Azure growth and improving Copilot monetization. The bullish calls follow Microsoft’s strongest quarterly performance in decades and reflect growing confidence that AI spending is translating into revenue. What's Going On With Microsoft Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: New real-time AI voice models expand Microsoft’s addressable market. Microsoft launched three speech and transcription models, including MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, which can begin responding in roughly 320 milliseconds. The technology targets contact centers, multilingual assistants, live captions and other enterprise voice applications, potentially creating additional demand for Microsoft’s AI platform and cloud services. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Positive Sentiment: Recent performance reinforces the AI growth narrative. Microsoft shares gained about 38% during the third quarter after earnings showed the fastest Azure growth in four years, driven by strong AI demand. Investors also point to expanding Copilot adoption, enterprise licensing opportunities and continued integration of AI agents into Microsoft’s software ecosystem. MSFT Stock Rallies 38% as Wall Street Sees Microsoft’s AI Spending Pay Off
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is experiencing senior leadership turnover. LinkedIn chief Ryan Roslansky and Microsoft Science president Peter Lee are expected to depart. Roslansky’s exit follows nearly 18 years with LinkedIn and Microsoft and adds to ongoing changes in the company’s AI leadership structure. Former LinkedIn chief Roslansky to leave Microsoft
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and investment intensity remain key risks. Some commentary argues that Microsoft’s rally has increased reliance on a higher valuation multiple, while AI infrastructure spending may outpace free cash flow if compute prices decline or monetization disappoints. These concerns could limit upside even as Azure demand remains strong. The AI Revolution Could Be Microsoft’s Next Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

Microsoft Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $512.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $487.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $429.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. The trade was a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. CLSA reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Forty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $571.18.

About Microsoft

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.

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