S&A Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,807 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,039,000.
A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $347,211,391,000 after purchasing an additional 15,955,898 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $560.27.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Microsoft
Trending Headlines about Microsoft
Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure business reportedly surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue, reinforcing confidence that AI demand is translating into substantial cloud growth. The company’s strong recent earnings, rising Microsoft 365 seat count and increasing adoption of premium E7 and Copilot offerings provide additional long-term growth support. Azure revenue article Microsoft 365 seats article
- Positive Sentiment: William Blair reaffirmed a Buy rating, citing early AI monetization and a constructive long-term risk-reward profile. Other coverage highlighted Microsoft’s ability to generate cash while investing heavily in AI infrastructure, distinguishing it from some competitors. Microsoft Buy rating article
- Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is developing its Maia 300 AI accelerator, potentially reducing dependence on Nvidia processors and improving supply flexibility and infrastructure economics over time. Maia 300 chip article
- Neutral Sentiment: A partnership with Plug Power tested hydrogen fuel-cell backup power for Microsoft data centers. The trial could support data-center resilience, but Plug’s CEO said it does not represent a strategic pivot or an immediate material change for Microsoft. Plug Power and Microsoft article
- Negative Sentiment: A Guardian investigation raised questions about a possible shortfall in advanced AI chips installed across Microsoft’s facilities relative to its stated data-center expansion plans. Reports cited a potential gap of roughly 2.2 million chips, fueling concerns about deployment timing, capacity and near-term AI revenue growth. Microsoft chip capacity article
- Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley warned that heavy AI capital expenditure and rising debt-related obligations could pressure hyperscaler credit quality. Although Microsoft has a strong balance sheet, the warning increases scrutiny of whether massive infrastructure spending will generate adequate returns. Morgan Stanley hyperscaler warning
Microsoft Stock Performance
Microsoft stock opened at $480.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $412.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $408.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 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. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.
Insider Activity
In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,310 shares of company stock worth $17,256,219. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Microsoft Profile
(
Free Report)
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).
See Also
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