Insight Holdings Group LLC Has $25.64 Million Stake in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Insight Holdings Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 62.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,275 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 113,430 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises about 1.8% of Insight Holdings Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Insight Holdings Group LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $25,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its position 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $525.00 target price on Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Monday. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock worth $17,775,330. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $503.81 on Wednesday. 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 one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The company has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $407.02 and a 200-day moving average of $407.37.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s latest earnings showed stronger-than-expected profitability and revenue, with Azure growth and Copilot adoption reinforcing the view that substantial AI investment is beginning to generate returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors continue to favor Microsoft over some other mega-cap technology names. Hedge Funds Favor Microsoft Over Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein raised its Microsoft price target to $660 and maintained an Outperform rating, arguing that Microsoft’s data-center expansion is measured, flexible, and supported by durable cloud demand. Other analysts also identified Azure growth, backlog, and institutional buying as potential catalysts for a year-end rally. Bernstein Raises Microsoft Target
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may unveil its Maia 300 AI chip as early as September and secure production capacity for more than 300,000 units could reduce reliance on Nvidia processors, lower long-term AI costs, and support Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Microsoft Maia 300 Chip Report

About Microsoft

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).