Wasatch Advisors LP Takes $5.61 Million Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Wasatch Advisors LP acquired 15,027 Microsoft shares worth approximately $5.61 million, while institutional investors collectively own 71.13% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $560.27. Microsoft recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $4.74 in EPS and $90.01 billion in revenue.
• Microsoft declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, equivalent to an annualized $3.64 payout and a 0.7% yield; insiders sold 37,310 shares valued at $17.26 million in the last quarter.

Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 15,027 shares of the software giant's stock, valued at approximately $5,605,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the first quarter worth approximately $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $30,840,432,000 after acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $525.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Microsoft from a "market perform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, July 24th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price objective 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $560.27.

Microsoft Stock Up 1.8%

MSFT opened at $505.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $428.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $411.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.11. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.Microsoft's quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN to bring Arabic-language ALLAM AI models to Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The agreement strengthens Microsoft’s enterprise-AI reach in the Middle East and could support additional Azure and Copilot adoption. Microsoft Expands Middle East AI Footprint Through Long-Term HUMAIN Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and ChronoScale reportedly plan a 50-megawatt AI-compute deployment using NVIDIA GB300 systems. The project signals continued demand for Microsoft’s cloud and AI infrastructure, although it also implies substantial near-term capital spending. ChronoScale and Microsoft Plan 50 MW AI Compute Deployment
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Superintelligence team is pursuing internally developed frontier models and greater AI self-sufficiency. Building proprietary models could reduce dependence on outside providers and improve long-term economics if execution is successful. Microsoft AI Self-Sufficiency Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square reportedly made Microsoft its largest AI-related holding after reducing Alphabet exposure, adding an influential vote of confidence in Microsoft’s cloud, AI and backlog outlook. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Microsoft Investment

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 42,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 37,310 shares of company stock valued at $17,256,219 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Company 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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