Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its Microsoft stake by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, buying 69,050 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 3.41 million shares worth about $1.66 billion.
• Microsoft’s latest quarter beat expectations, with earnings of $4.27 per share on revenue of $82.89 billion, helped by 18.3% year-over-year revenue growth. Analysts still broadly remain positive, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $562.69.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, payable June 11, while insider activity was mixed: EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold shares, and Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,405,573 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 69,050 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 4.6% of Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,658,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $397.35 per share, with a total value of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,339,651.75. The trade was a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. New Street Research decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. DZ Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $562.69.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $415.00 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $396.79 and a 200-day moving average of $445.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $356.28 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw bullish analyst commentary, with multiple firms raising or reaffirming price targets after the company’s strong earnings beat and Azure growth, reinforcing the view that core business momentum remains solid.
• Positive Sentiment: New reports suggest Microsoft’s AI ecosystem is still gaining traction, including partner milestones tied to Copilot and AI cloud services, which supports the case for continued enterprise adoption.
• Positive Sentiment: Several hedge funds and asset managers have recently added to Microsoft positions, indicating that some large investors still view MSFT as a long-term AI and cloud leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft partnered with CAISI and AISI to advance AI model testing standards, a policy-and-safety focused update that may help its enterprise credibility but is unlikely to move the stock on its own.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is considering adjustments to its renewable-energy targets and offering voluntary retirement packages reflect ongoing cost and infrastructure pressures, but these items are more strategic than immediately material to revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Market attention is centered on TCI’s reduced stake and the broader “AI anxiety” trade, with investors worried Microsoft may be spending heavily on AI infrastructure before the payoff becomes clearer.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to temporary margin pressure from elevated AI and data-center spending, which could weigh on near-term profitability even as growth remains strong.

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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