Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Acquired by Illumine Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Illumine Investment Management increased its Microsoft stake by 51.1% in the first quarter, reaching 6,224 shares valued at approximately $2.3 million. Hedge funds and institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft’s stock.
• Microsoft reported quarterly earnings of $4.27 per share and revenue of $82.89 billion, exceeding analyst expectations, while revenue rose 18.3% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, equivalent to a 0.9% yield.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Microsoft, with 42 analysts issuing Buy ratings and six assigning Hold ratings. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $554.73.

Illumine Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 51.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,224 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 1.8% of Illumine Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Illumine Investment Management LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in 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 last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings 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, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $393.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $397.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $406.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its first in-house cybersecurity AI model, MAI-Cyber-1-Flash, along with Project Perception, an agentic platform designed to detect and respond to AI-powered attacks. The products could strengthen Microsoft’s enterprise security position and create additional demand for Azure and security services. Microsoft launches AI cybersecurity model and defense platform
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained bullish ahead of earnings. Citizens JMP reaffirmed a Market Outperform rating with a $550 target, while Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and a $540 target—well above Microsoft’s recent trading range. Microsoft stock moves higher
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanding partnerships and integrations across Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot support the argument that its broad enterprise ecosystem can monetize AI spending over time. Morgan Stanley estimates major technology companies could achieve 25%–50% returns on AI investments. AI capital expenditure plans

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. President Capital boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. CLSA assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $535.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $554.73.

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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