Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 2,300,016 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,300,016 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $857,952,000. Microsoft comprises 0.5% of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 229,490 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $85,604,000 after buying an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the first quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after acquiring an additional 537,634 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its stake in Microsoft by 138.8% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,356,359 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $502,077,000 after acquiring an additional 788,297 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target to $675 from $525 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing accelerating Azure and Microsoft 365 growth driven by artificial intelligence. The firm believes Microsoft’s valuation remains reasonable despite its recent rally. UBS raises Microsoft price target
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms have lifted their targets, with analysts highlighting Azure momentum, approximately 30 million Copilot seats, Microsoft’s commercial backlog and the potential for a larger-than-usual earnings beat. The October 28 results will provide an important test of whether AI spending is translating into revenue and profit.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Maia 300 custom AI accelerator is expected to scale across Azure data centers and reportedly deliver more tokens per megawatt than conventional GPU systems. The chip could reduce inference costs and Microsoft’s dependence on Nvidia and AMD hardware. Microsoft Maia 300 AI chip
• Positive Sentiment: AI care-management company Tucuvi joined Microsoft’s Pegasus startup program, potentially expanding Microsoft’s enterprise AI pipeline and go-to-market reach in healthcare. Microsoft also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.98 from $0.91, signaling continued confidence in cash generation. Tucuvi joins Microsoft Pegasus Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Azure management is seeking roughly 20% cost reductions could improve efficiency and margins, but also underscore the pressure created by Microsoft’s substantial AI data-center investments.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s $10 million contribution to a White House ballroom project is unlikely to affect near-term financial results, though it could attract political or reputational scrutiny. Microsoft White House ballroom contribution
• Negative Sentiment: Higher inflation and bond yields have pressured AI valuations and raised concerns about the financing cost and returns of large infrastructure projects. Microsoft’s strong balance sheet makes it less vulnerable than smaller AI companies, but valuation sensitivity remains a risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to Hold, while reports of security vulnerabilities, executive share sales and intense competition from rapidly growing AI companies add caution. Amy Hood’s sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, limiting its significance.

Microsoft Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $539.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $504.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $439.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on MSFT shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $525.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. William Blair initiated coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were 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 owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Profile

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.