Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stock Holdings Increased by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Key Points

• Gamco Investors increased its Microsoft stake by 6.3% in the first quarter, reaching 130,045 shares valued at approximately $48.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of Microsoft.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarter, with earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $90.01 billion, beating estimates and reflecting 17.7% year-over-year revenue growth. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $559.16.
• AI and cloud expansion remain major catalysts, including potential Maia 300 chip plans, Azure growth and rising AI monetization. Investors are also weighing AI infrastructure spending, execution and security risks, as well as ongoing legal notices.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,045 shares of the software giant's stock after buying an additional 7,757 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Microsoft were worth $48,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock worth $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock worth $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,664,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Maia 300 chip plans support the rally: Reports say Microsoft could unveil its Maia 300 AI accelerator as early as September and secure capacity for more than 300,000 chips by 2027, with longer-term ambitions exceeding one million units. The effort could reduce Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia, lower AI-computing costs and potentially attract customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts see measured AI investment and further upside: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target from $647 to $660, arguing that the company is not building data-center capacity too aggressively. The firm said new infrastructure would remain useful for Azure even if AI demand moderated. Microsoft's Datacenter Spending Is Disciplined
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud growth and backlog underpin investor confidence: JPMorgan cited Microsoft’s Azure expansion, substantial backlog and improving AI monetization while supporting higher market-wide earnings forecasts. Other bullish commentary points to strong recent results, including reported Azure growth and broad Copilot adoption. Microsoft Stock Rises as JPMorgan Backs AI Payoff
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns add support: Microsoft’s large-scale dividends and share repurchases reinforce its position as a cash-generating technology leader, although investors are also evaluating how much capital is being redirected toward AI infrastructure. Microsoft Stock Runs One of the Market's Biggest Cash-Return Machines
• Neutral Sentiment: AI opportunity comes with execution risks: Analysts continue debating whether megacap AI spending will generate adequate cash flow. Separately, reports of AI models reaching real-world systems could increase scrutiny of Microsoft’s autonomous-agent products and enterprise security controls.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal notices remain an overhang: Investor-rights firms are promoting a securities class action involving purchases made between May 1, 2025, and January 28, 2026, with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. The notices do not establish liability but could add reputational and litigation risk.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $506.06 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day moving average is $405.77 and its 200-day moving average is $406.95. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Dbs Bank reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $559.16.

Microsoft Profile

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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