Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Position Lifted by Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 348,349 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 36,126 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.5% of Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $128,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% during the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant's stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,740,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to view Microsoft as a high-quality AI and cloud name, with some arguing the stock looks cheaper after the recent decline.
• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming earnings later this month could provide a catalyst if Azure growth and AI-related demand remain strong.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft remains a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure spending, but investors are waiting for clearer proof that those investments will translate into faster profit growth.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s 4,800-job reduction and Xbox restructuring suggest ongoing cost pressure and restructuring challenges.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities class-action alerts tied to alleged AI/Copilot disclosure issues are adding legal and reputational risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns about Microsoft’s OpenAI partnership and AI product execution are creating uncertainty around the company’s AI narrative.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial downgraded Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $586.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.84.

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT stock opened at $384.93 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock's fifty day moving average is $401.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $412.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Microsoft 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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