QVT Financial LP Takes Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• QVT Financial LP opened a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter, buying 2,189 shares worth about $1.06 million.
• Microsoft reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.27 and revenue of $82.89 billion, both beating analyst estimates and rising 18.3% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, while recent insider selling and shareholder lawsuits have added some headline risk around the stock.

QVT Financial LP acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,189 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,059,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of MSFT opened at $399.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $411.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $428.09.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is getting credit for continued AI momentum, including a new coding model, a quantum-computing milestone with Quantinuum, and new availability of NuPlay in the Microsoft Marketplace, all of which reinforce the company’s long-term platform strength. Article: Microsoft (MSFT) and Quantinuum (QNT) Hit Quantum Milestone, Moving Closer to Commercial Reality
• Positive Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments that Xbox must become “sustainable” were interpreted as a sign Microsoft is willing to push for better margins and discipline in its gaming business. Article: Microsoft Stock (MSFT) Jumps as CEO Satya Nadella Says Xbox Needs to Become ‘Sustainable’
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators continue to argue that Microsoft’s valuation reset could make the stock more attractive, especially if AI, cloud, and quantum investments eventually accelerate growth. Article: Microsoft's Giant's Valuation Reset Creates a Real Dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s portfolio shifts and broader market chatter around AI leaders reflect ongoing institutional debate about Microsoft’s role in the AI trade, but do not directly change the business outlook. Article: Microsoft or Alphabet: Billionaire Bill Ackman Goes All In on One AI Stock, Dumps the Other
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is facing a shareholder lawsuit alleging it failed to disclose slowing Azure growth and the need for heavy AI infrastructure spending, which raises concerns about margins, transparency, and near-term cloud execution. Article: Microsoft sued by shareholders over expenses, cloud business, AI
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have launched securities-fraud investigations and class-action efforts against Microsoft, adding legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article: Securities Fraud Investigation Into Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Announced
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing shutdowns or spin-out options for parts of Xbox, plus insider-selling headlines, reinforce investor worries that some businesses may need restructuring and tighter cost control. Article: Report: Microsoft weighing up spinning off Xbox

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSFT. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $550.00 target price for the company. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set a "market outperform" rating for the company. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.20.

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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