State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,410,221 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 51,615 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 4.2% of State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,165,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. The trade was a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The biggest catalyst was a $9.7 billion Pentagon contract to consolidate Microsoft and other software licenses into one vehicle, which should streamline federal procurement and reinforce Microsoft’s government software footprint. Pentagon awards Microsoft $9.7 billion deal in bid to cut costs, end license sprawl
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports said HSBC sees Microsoft’s Anthropic partnership as potentially worth up to $43 billion in annual revenue by 2030, lifting optimism around Azure and Microsoft’s AI monetization path. Is Microsoft ditching OpenAI for Anthropic?
• Positive Sentiment: KeyBanc reiterated an Overweight rating, citing continued strength in Azure and Copilot, while other analyst notes argued Wall Street may be underestimating Microsoft’s AI revenue potential. KeyBanc Reiterates Overweight Rating on Microsoft (MSFT) on Azure and Copilot Growth
• Positive Sentiment: HP’s earnings beat, driven in part by the Windows 11 refresh cycle and AI PC demand, indirectly supports Microsoft by signaling healthy PC upgrade activity around its ecosystem. HP beats revenue, profit estimates as AI PC and Windows 11 refresh boost demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Several items were broadly supportive of Microsoft’s AI strategy, including partner integrations around Microsoft Marketplace, Microsoft Foundry, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, but these are more incremental ecosystem updates than major stock-moving events.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary focused on near-term concerns around Microsoft’s heavy AI infrastructure spending and rising compute costs, with a few pieces arguing the stock remains under pressure despite the earnings beat. Cost of Compute is Far Beyond the Costs of the Employees: Microsoft Stock (NASDAQ:MSFT) Slips as the Achilles Heel is Found
• Negative Sentiment: There were also reports that Dan Loeb’s Third Point exited Microsoft, which may add to investor caution even as longer-term AI enthusiasm remains intact. Billionaire Dan Loeb Cashed Out of Microsoft Stock. Shares Are Down 14.2% YTD.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Melius Research set a $430.00 price target on Microsoft in a report on Monday, February 9th. Dbs Bank cut their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.88.

Microsoft Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $412.67 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $356.28 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $400.37 and its 200-day moving average is $435.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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).