Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s 4th Largest Position

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 372,592 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for approximately 2.8% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $137,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $5,658,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 410.4% in the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in Microsoft by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,922,874.02. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total transaction of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSFT shares. China Renaissance lowered their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research decreased their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC lowered their price target on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $554.00.

Microsoft News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft reported fiscal Q4 revenue of approximately $90.0 billion, up 18% year over year and above the $87.6 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted earnings of $4.74 per share also exceeded expectations of $4.21, marking the company’s 14th consecutive “double beat.” Microsoft Q4 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Azure revenue grew 43%, exceeding analysts’ expectations of roughly 40%, and the cloud platform surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue. The results eased concerns that Microsoft’s AI infrastructure investments may be outpacing customer demand. Microsoft Tops Quarterly Cloud Growth Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft said Microsoft 365 Copilot reached 30 million paid seats, providing evidence of growing monetization for its AI products. The company also recorded a $3.2 billion gain from its Anthropic investment, although returns from its OpenAI investment were more mixed. Azure Crosses $100 Billion in Annual Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft maintained its AI capital-expenditure outlook rather than following Alphabet’s recent increase. Investors viewed the spending discipline as supportive of margins and free cash flow, while first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $89.9 billion to $91.0 billion was slightly above consensus. Microsoft Keeps Capex Forecast Unchanged
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors had positioned for an unusually large post-earnings move, with options implying roughly a 6% to 7% swing. This elevated volatility reflects the importance of Microsoft’s results to the broader AI investment theme.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft faces a U.K. regulatory investigation into whether customers were misled about Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscription pricing. The probe creates potential reputational and compliance risks, though its near-term financial impact is unclear. UK Regulator Investigates Microsoft Over 365 Subscriptions
• Negative Sentiment: Disney’s decision to replace GitHub Copilot with OpenAI’s Codex highlights intensifying competition in AI coding tools. Multiple shareholder lawsuits concerning alleged Copilot and Azure disclosures also remain an overhang.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $390.54 on Thursday. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $349.20 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $396.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $405.74.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 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).