MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Trims Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH lessened its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,135 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 2,583 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 6.2% of MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $63,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 386.7% during the second quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 73 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Microsoft by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 126 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $540.00 price objective on Microsoft and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $625.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Partners set a $450.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $599.72.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat on top and bottom lines — EPS $4.14 and revenue $81.27B, with Microsoft Cloud topping $50B and Azure still growing robustly—this underpins the long‑term growth thesis. Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI and AI revenue contribution is material — the company reported meaningful gains tied to OpenAI that help justify the AI investment narrative. Microsoft gained $7.6 billion from OpenAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 200 AI accelerator — a strategic product for in‑house AI capability, but commercial impact/timing is uncertain and longer term. Microsoft launches Maia 200 AI accelerator
• Negative Sentiment: Record AI capex spooked investors — Q2 capex (~$37.5B) rose sharply and management signaled continued heavy spending; markets worried about the timing and ROI of that investment. Microsoft sheds $430bn in market value as AI spending spooks investors
• Negative Sentiment: Investor reaction: a historic one‑day market‑cap wipe and broad tech weakness as traders rotated into names (like Meta) that showed clearer near‑term payoff from AI spend. Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap as stock plunged
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimmed targets and flagged near‑term risk — several firms cut price targets or adjusted estimates citing slower Azure growth and heavier capex, increasing near‑term downside risk. These analysts slash their forecasts on Microsoft

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.72, for a total value of $1,364,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,703,959.04. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 12,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.52, for a total transaction of $6,266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,577,620.48. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 54,100 shares of company stock worth $27,598,872 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $433.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $476.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $500.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The software giant reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.86 by $0.28. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.04% and a return on equity of 33.48%. The firm had revenue of $81.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 25.89%.

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).