Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Mizuho Markets Americas LLC

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Americas increased its Microsoft stake by 155.4% in the first quarter, purchasing 170,993 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 280,993 shares valued at approximately $104 million.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook: 42 rate the stock a Buy and five rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $558.87 price target.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly expectations with $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue, up 17.7% year over year. However, rising AI infrastructure costs, potential customer concentration and valuation-related profit-taking remain risks.

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 155.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 280,993 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 170,993 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 2.8% of Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $104,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 277.5% during the first quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,608 shares of the software giant's stock worth $13,921,000 after buying an additional 27,646 shares during the period. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd now owns 282,508 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $104,576,000 after acquiring an additional 26,008 shares in the last quarter. PBCay One RSC Ltd raised its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. PBCay One RSC Ltd now owns 282,505 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $104,575,000 after acquiring an additional 26,005 shares in the last quarter. Dickmeyer Boyce Financial Management Inc. acquired a new position in Microsoft during the 1st quarter worth $5,516,000. Finally, Gibbs Wealth Management boosted its position in Microsoft by 73.3% during the 1st quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management now owns 29,554 shares of the software giant's stock worth $10,940,000 after acquiring an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on Microsoft from $515.00 to $490.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $646.00 to $647.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $558.87.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its Microsoft price target to $600. The upgrade follows Microsoft’s quarterly Azure performance, with analysts highlighting the 43% cloud-revenue increase and stronger-than-expected earnings as evidence that AI demand is translating into accelerating cloud growth. Citi Raises Microsoft Stock Target to $600
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom AI chips may improve cloud economics. CEO Satya Nadella said the company’s internally developed chips can deliver efficiency gains of up to 40%. Better cost and energy efficiency could help Microsoft support AI workloads while protecting Azure margins. Microsoft Custom AI Chips Improve Efficiency
• Positive Sentiment: Azure is expanding in India. Microsoft opened a major Hyderabad data-center region and is committing approximately $20.5 billion to its Indian cloud and AI operations. Early customers include Adani Group and HDFC Bank, supporting the case for long-term international Azure growth. Microsoft Opens Largest India Data Center Hub
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals and institutional support remain strong. Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly revenue and EPS expectations, while Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square holds a reported $2.4 billion MSFT position. Scotiabank also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate and maintained an Outperform rating. Bill Ackman Microsoft Stake
• Neutral Sentiment: AI demand is powerful but concentrated. Reports suggest OpenAI may account for a substantial portion of Microsoft’s AI sales, creating both a major growth engine and customer-concentration risk. Microsoft’s large AI backlog also does not guarantee equivalent future profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Spending, margins and valuation remain concerns. Rising data-center capital expenditures and lower cloud gross margins could pressure cash flow if AI infrastructure costs grow faster than revenue. After the sharp post-earnings rally, the stock is also more vulnerable to profit-taking or disappointing guidance.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales and securities litigation add headline risk. CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares for roughly $4.9 million, and multiple law firms are publicizing a securities class action with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. These developments do not establish wrongdoing but may weigh on near-term sentiment.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $499.99 on Monday. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $404.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $406.59. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $553.72.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft's revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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