Noked Israel Ltd Lowers Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Noked Israel Ltd. cut its Microsoft stake by 76.8% in the first quarter, selling 149,350 shares and retaining 45,150 shares worth approximately $16.7 million. Microsoft remains 2.5% of the fund’s portfolio and its seventh-largest holding.
• Microsoft reported a strong quarter, with revenue up 17.7% year over year to $90.01 billion and EPS of $4.74, exceeding analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a broadly positive view, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $558.87.
• AI and Azure growth remain key catalysts, but rising data-center spending, margin pressure, customer concentration and insider selling pose risks. Microsoft also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, representing a 0.7% yield.

Noked Israel Ltd trimmed its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 76.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,150 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 149,350 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up 2.5% of Noked Israel Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Noked Israel Ltd's holdings in Microsoft were worth $16,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Spear Holdings RSC Ltd now owns 282,508 shares of the software giant's stock worth $104,576,000 after purchasing an additional 26,008 shares during the last quarter. PBCay One RSC Ltd lifted its stake in Microsoft by 10.1% in the first quarter. PBCay One RSC Ltd now owns 282,505 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $104,575,000 after purchasing an additional 26,005 shares during the last quarter. Dickmeyer Boyce Financial Management Inc. bought a new position in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $5,516,000. Gibbs Wealth Management grew its holdings in Microsoft by 73.3% during the first quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management now owns 29,554 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,940,000 after purchasing an additional 12,502 shares during the period. Finally, Keynote Financial Services LLC increased its position in Microsoft by 4.6% in the first quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 10,519 shares of the software giant's stock worth $3,894,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. President Capital boosted their target price on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (up from $570.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, CLSA reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $558.87.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT opened at $499.99 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $404.86 and a 200-day moving average of $406.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source