Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Boosted by State of Wyoming

Key Points

• State of Wyoming increased its Microsoft stake by 29.1% in the fourth quarter, bringing holdings to 34,451 shares valued at about $16.7 million. Microsoft now ranks as the state’s fourth-largest position and makes up about 1.8% of its portfolio.
• Microsoft continues to see strong institutional and analyst support, with hedge funds owning 71.13% of the stock and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Analysts currently have a consensus price target of $561.20.
• The company recently reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both beating estimates. Microsoft also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, reinforcing its shareholder-return profile.

State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 29.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,451 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,774 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up about 1.8% of State of Wyoming's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. State of Wyoming's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PMG Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $828,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 70,175 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $36,347,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 949,901 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Summary

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

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.45, for a total transaction of $1,031,125.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,968 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,434,201.60. This trade represents a 4.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 19,262 shares of company stock valued at $8,695,581 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Arete Research increased 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $550.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $397.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $356.28 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $410.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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 (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Microsoft Company 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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