Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Key Points

• Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d’investissement increased its Microsoft stake by 11.9% in the first quarter to 121,196 shares valued at approximately $44.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with revenue of $90.01 billion and adjusted EPS of $4.74. Azure revenue rose 43% year over year, while Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, supporting continued investor optimism about cloud and AI growth.
• Analysts maintain a broadly bullish outlook, with 42 Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $558.64, though risks include elevated valuation, substantial AI spending, data-center constraints, regulatory scrutiny, a reported cloud-security flaw and insider share sales.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. grew its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 121,196 shares of the software giant's stock after acquiring an additional 12,874 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 2.6% of Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in Microsoft during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MSFT shares. Evercore set a $528.00 target price on Microsoft in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Argus cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $620.00 to $510.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Microsoft to a "buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $558.64.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure growth exceeded expectations. Azure revenue increased 43% year over year, and annual Azure sales surpassed $100 billion for the first time. Management also guided to approximately 45% Azure growth in the next quarter, reinforcing confidence in Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise AI demand. Microsoft Shares Jump After Strong Outlook and Solid AI-Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: The earnings beat was substantial. Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90.01 billion and adjusted EPS of $4.74, above analyst estimates of $87.62 billion and $4.24, respectively. Net income reportedly rose 31%, while revenue increased about 18% year over year. Microsoft Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates as Cloud and AI Drive Results
• Positive Sentiment: AI monetization and financial discipline eased investor concerns. Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, its commercial remaining performance obligation reached $678 billion—up 84% year over year—and management held its capital-expenditure outlook broadly steady while emphasizing continued cash generation. Investors viewed this as a better balance between infrastructure investment and returns than some peers have demonstrated. Microsoft Eases AI Spending Concerns
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts largely reaffirmed bullish views, with several price-target increases, although estimates remain wide. Microsoft’s stock is now trading well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages after a historic rally, raising the possibility of increased volatility or profit-taking.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft continues to face risks from data-center power constraints, chip costs, regulatory scrutiny and the enormous scale of AI investment. A reported cloud-security flaw that could have exposed customers adds another operational concern. Cyber Firm Wiz Reports Microsoft Cloud Flaw
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized a securities class-action lawsuit concerning investors who purchased Microsoft shares between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. Such announcements may create reputational and legal overhang, although they have not offset the earnings-driven optimism. Microsoft Securities Class Action Deadline

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $464.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $397.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $405.96. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

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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