Torque Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Torque Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,527 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,701 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises 8.1% of Torque Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Torque Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $23,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ARK & TLK Investments LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Fischer Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to expand its AI offerings, including the global rollout of its Copilot Cowork AI agent and new pay-as-you-go pricing, which could improve monetization if adoption grows. Microsoft’s AI agent Copilot Cowork now available globally; Cowork 1 to come soon
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s view that AI can help software companies has been supportive for Microsoft’s AI strategy, since Microsoft has already embedded AI across its products. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Just Announced Fantastic News to Microsoft Stock Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Oracle denied reports that a $3 billion cloud deal with Microsoft collapsed because of security and FedRAMP compliance issues, leaving the situation unresolved but not clearly worsening. Oracle Denies Report That Security Concerns Killed Potential $3 Billion Microsoft Cloud Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI and quantum-related product news, including new Surface devices and broader AI/coding tools, supports the long-term growth narrative but is less likely to move the stock immediately. Microsoft debuts Surface Laptop and Surface Pro amid AI-driven memory shortage
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft walked away from a potential $3 billion Oracle cloud capacity deal, according to multiple reports, which suggests ongoing pressure to secure enough AI infrastructure and may highlight execution challenges. Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure talks with Oracle collapse, Business Insider reports
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholders filed a class action lawsuit alleging Microsoft misled investors about Azure growth and the need for heavy AI infrastructure spending, adding legal and sentiment pressure on the shares. Microsoft sued by shareholders over expenses, cloud business, AI
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft may close or spin off parts of Xbox, including studio closures, reinforce concerns about restructuring costs and weak gaming margins. Microsoft looks to shut down Compulsion Games — report

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSFT. Citizens Jmp began coverage on Microsoft in a report on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Arete Research lifted their target price on Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, March 9th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $393.83 on Wednesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $356.28 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $412.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $427.45.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. 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%.

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).