Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• PKO Investment Management increased its Microsoft stake by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 112,000 shares worth about $54.2 million. Microsoft is now the fund’s 3rd largest position and makes up roughly 4.3% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft’s latest quarterly results were strong, with earnings per share of $4.27 beating estimates and revenue of $82.89 billion also topping expectations. Revenue rose 18.3% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth and profitability profile.
• Investor sentiment remains upbeat as Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst coverage and positive AI-related catalysts, including reports of new AI tools and PC hardware announcements. The stock also recently declared a $0.91 quarterly dividend and was trading up on the news flow.

PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,000 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.3% of PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co's holdings in Microsoft were worth $54,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 299,196,519 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,823,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,166,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 179,001,751 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,714,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532,054 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter worth about $50,493,678,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Microsoft by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Nvidia teased “a new era of PC,” with reports pointing to new Surface hardware and a possible AI-focused chip announcement at Computex, which could refresh the Windows/PC upgrade cycle. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft will unveil a new coding model and other in-house AI tools at next week’s Build conference reinforce the company’s AI monetization story and support sentiment around GitHub Copilot and Azure demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings backdrop remains solid, with revenue growth of 18.3% and better-than-expected EPS, helping investors justify the stock’s premium valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish writeups and analyst commentary say MSFT still has room to run because Azure, M365 cloud, and AI revenue are expanding faster than the broader software market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is also drawing attention from investors, fund managers, and even congressional buyers, which supports the stock’s defensive-growth reputation but does not change fundamentals on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: A TechCrunch report says Microsoft is facing backlash for threatening a security researcher over unpatched bugs and code disclosure, adding some reputational noise ahead of Build. Article Title

Microsoft Stock Up 5.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $450.24 on Friday. 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 market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $402.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.62.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.88.

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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