Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd Purchases 206,358 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd. purchased 206,358 Microsoft shares worth approximately $77 million, making Microsoft its third-largest holding at 3.6% of the portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 71.13% of Microsoft, while analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $589.71.
• Microsoft exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue; it also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.98 per share.

Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 206,358 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $76,976,000. Microsoft accounts for about 3.6% of Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Microsoft by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant's stock worth $15,426,862,000 after acquiring an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Microsoft by 10.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,784,809 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,493,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 22,138,798 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $10,715,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,599,412 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Microsoft from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Microsoft from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Forty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $589.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total transaction of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Microsoft to remain the only major hyperscaler with positive free cash flow over the next year despite heavy AI investment. This reinforces confidence that the company can fund data-center expansion without substantial external financing. Microsoft Free Cash Flow Expected to Remain Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with NiSource for approximately 1,100 megawatts of power for an Indiana data-center campus beginning in 2028. Securing electricity supports future Azure capacity as grid constraints become a bottleneck for AI expansion. Microsoft Signs Power Deal With NiSource
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s custom Maia AI chips and reports that a new model achieved comparable or better performance than OpenAI’s system using a fraction of the computing power could eventually reduce reliance on expensive third-party GPUs and improve AI economics. Microsoft Wants to Make AI Cheaper
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on Azure growth, Copilot adoption, AI monetization and capital expenditures ahead of earnings. Strong demand could support the shares, but the market wants evidence that revenue growth is translating into sustainable margins.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft’s grip on business software and says Microsoft and Amazon Web Services may need to do more to address cloud-service barriers. Potential remedies could increase compliance costs or weaken customer-lock-in advantages. UK Regulator Targets Microsoft’s Business Software Grip
• Negative Sentiment: Questions remain over whether custom chips will deliver meaningful savings: AI infrastructure, power and data-center commitments are rising rapidly, while Microsoft is reportedly seeking substantial cost reductions in Azure. That creates concern about near-term free-cash-flow and margin pressure.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of MSFT opened at $529.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. 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 moving average price of $505.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $440.59.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Microsoft's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: MSFT is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company's principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.

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