Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Bellecapital International Ltd.

Key Points

• Bellecapital International increased its Microsoft stake by 27% in the second quarter, acquiring 17,211 additional shares for a total of 80,945 shares valued at approximately $30.2 million.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while insiders have sold roughly $71.4 million of shares over the past 90 days, including sales by CEO Satya Nadella and EVP Takeshi Numoto.
• Microsoft reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.91 to $0.98. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $564.27.

Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 27.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,945 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 17,211 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 4.8% of Bellecapital International Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Bellecapital International Ltd.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 30.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after buying an additional 9,814,598 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock worth $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $493.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock's 50 day moving average is $466.97 and its 200 day moving average is $422.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This is an increase from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $540.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $564.27.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure and AI businesses remain the primary bullish catalysts. Analysts point to accelerating cloud growth, broad enterprise adoption and Microsoft’s distribution advantage through Azure, Microsoft 365 and Copilot. These Magnificent Seven Members Still Look Cheap
• Positive Sentiment: Causaly expanded its collaboration with Microsoft, making its agentic scientific-research tools available within Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft 365 and Teams. The deal supports Microsoft’s strategy of adding specialized AI workflows to its enterprise software ecosystem. Causaly is Now Available in Microsoft Copilot
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 8% quarterly dividend increase reinforces its strong cash generation and provides shareholder support, although the company continues to invest heavily in cloud and AI infrastructure. Microsoft Slips as Its Quarterly Dividend Climbs 8%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman called recent reports of concerning model behavior at OpenAI a “serious situation” and emphasized the need for controllable, human-aligned AI. The comments highlight Microsoft’s safety focus but also underscore reputational and product-liability risks across the sector. OpenAI's latest AI revelation is a serious situation
• Negative Sentiment: Unsealed filings reportedly include Microsoft and OpenAI employees’ concerns that AI training on millions of news articles could amount to the “largest theft of labor in human history.” The disclosures may weaken the companies’ fair-use defense and increase potential litigation, licensing and regulatory costs. OpenAI, Microsoft executives' quotes on AI training threaten copyright defense
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling added to near-term sentiment pressure, while Microsoft faces competitive challenges from Salesforce’s AIforce and ongoing debate over whether its substantial AI spending will generate adequate returns. Microsoft Trading Down After Insider Selling

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital solutions for consumers, businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products and services include the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 productivity applications, Teams collaboration software, Dynamics business applications and Azure cloud computing services.

The company also operates LinkedIn, GitHub and Xbox, which includes gaming consoles, video games and related online services.

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