Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.'s 9th Largest Position

Key Points

• E Fund Management Hong Kong increased its Microsoft stake by 26.2% in the second quarter, making Microsoft its ninth-largest holding at 2.5% of the portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, with revenue up 17.7% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $564.27 average price target.
• Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98 per share, an approximately 8% increase, while executives—including CEO Satya Nadella—reported significant stock sales under pre-arranged trading plans.

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 26.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,516 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 4,256 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 2.5% of E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the second quarter worth $35,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at $101,000. Ramsey Quantitative Systems purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.6% during the first quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC now owns 422 shares of the software giant's stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $493.78 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $466.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.77.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSFT. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $528.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $564.27.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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