Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's Largest Position

Key Points

• DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale cut its Microsoft stake by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, but Microsoft still remained its largest holding, representing about 5.8% of its portfolio and valued at roughly $3.59 billion.
• Institutional ownership of Microsoft remains very high, with 71.13% of shares held by institutional investors; several other funds also made small increases to their positions.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Microsoft, with 39 Buy ratings and a consensus rating of Moderate Buy; the company also reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat expectations and announced a $0.91 per share dividend.

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale decreased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,417,273 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 301,000 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 5.8% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.10% of Microsoft worth $3,587,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BLVD Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the third quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,641,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the third quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. ARK & TLK Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the third quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% in the third quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $615.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares in the company, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The OpenAI lawsuit defeat for Elon Musk clears a major legal overhang and is seen as helping Microsoft’s AI ecosystem and partner exposure. Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed a new, large Microsoft stake, reinforcing the view that some major investors see MSFT as undervalued relative to its AI growth prospects. MSFT Stock Alert: What to Know as Bill Ackman Adds Microsoft Position
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators highlighted Microsoft as a beneficiary of enterprise AI adoption, with Azure and Copilot demand still driving the long-term growth story. Microsoft Rides on Enterprise AI Advancements: More Upside Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several fund updates showed mixed institutional activity, including notable purchases and trims, which points to continued debate over Microsoft’s near-term valuation rather than a clear change in fundamentals. Pershing Square boosts Microsoft stake with 5.65M shares
• Negative Sentiment: Some headlines flagged potential pressure points, including worries that GitHub AI competition is intensifying and that higher AI infrastructure spending could weigh on margins. Microsoft (MSFT) Faces GitHub AI Crisis as OpenAI’s Codex and Rivals Catch Up

Microsoft Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $423.54 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $398.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $439.92.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

About Microsoft

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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