Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Purchased by Munro Partners

Munro Partners lifted its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 384,475 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,072 shares during the quarter. Microsoft makes up approximately 4.8% of Munro Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Munro Partners’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $185,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSFT. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $393.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $412.01 and its 200 day moving average is $427.45. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $356.28 and a one year high of $555.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Microsoft from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $586.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.20.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft launched a new AI agent with pay-as-you-go pricing, a shift that could improve monetization and help the company capture more revenue as customers adopt usage-based AI tools.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Microsoft is exploring lower-cost AI model options for Copilot, which could reduce infrastructure costs and improve profitability if implemented successfully.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s product and AI roadmap continues to attract long-term bulls, with analysts and investors still pointing to the company’s strong enterprise position and AI-driven growth potential.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was reported to have held talks for a $3 billion Oracle cloud infrastructure lease, but the deal reportedly collapsed over security and compliance issues, limiting any near-term impact on operations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around a possible Xbox restructuring or spin-off highlights strategic uncertainty in gaming, though it could eventually improve Microsoft’s overall margin profile if the division is separated or reshaped.
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholders filed a class action and securities-fraud investigations were announced over alleged misstatements tied to Azure growth and AI spending, creating legal and reputational overhang for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may shut down or restructure Xbox studios add to concerns that the gaming segment is a drag on profitability and could require more restructuring costs.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary also points to heavy AI capital expenditures and softer Azure growth, reinforcing investor worries that Microsoft’s spending is rising faster than its cloud revenue growth.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Company 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).