Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Boosted by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Key Points

• Institutional investors increased their Microsoft holdings: Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking raised its stake 2.3% to nearly 3.93 million shares, while hedge funds and other institutions collectively owned 71.13% of the stock.
• Microsoft reported strong operating momentum and bullish analyst sentiment. Quarterly EPS and revenue exceeded estimates, with revenue up 17.7% year over year; analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy” with a $571.18 target price, though ratings ranged from strong sell to buy.
• Insiders sold shares while Microsoft raised its dividend. Insiders sold $71.4 million of stock over the past 90 days, while the quarterly dividend increased from $0.91 to $0.98, implying a 0.8% annualized yield.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,931,924 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 89,473 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.2% of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.05% of Microsoft worth $1,466,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Microsoft by 10.5% during the 1st 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Microsoft by 64.3% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,982,083,000 after purchasing an additional 9,493,778 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock worth $71,420,699 in the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Raymond James Financial cut Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $571.18.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $517.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $430.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The firm's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

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

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft's productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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