Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 15,456 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 119,407 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 15,456 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for about 0.9% of Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $44,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% in the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Microsoft by 0.3% during the 2nd 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 boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 410.4% during the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,138 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN expanded their strategic partnership, introducing enterprise AI offerings and an AI-enabled PC. The agreement supports Microsoft’s effort to expand Azure and Copilot-related AI adoption internationally. Microsoft and HUMAIN Expand Strategic Collaboration at LEAP 2026 with New Enterprise AI Offering and AI PC
• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs expects elevated AI capital spending to continue into 2027. Sustained demand for cloud computing, data-center capacity and AI infrastructure could benefit Microsoft’s Azure business, although it also implies significant ongoing investment. Here comes the AI capex shocker, Goldman Sachs says
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive, with Citizens analyst Patrick Walravens anticipating that Microsoft could retest its record high over the next 12 months. Erste Group also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS estimate, reinforcing the bullish view on earnings growth. Wall Street analyst sets Microsoft stock price target for next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is expected to announce its annual dividend increase in September. Its last six increases were between 9% and 11%, but the size of the upcoming raise remains uncertain; the news offers income support rather than an immediate earnings catalyst. Microsoft Has Raised Its Dividend Every Year for More Than a Decade
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft Outlook experienced an outage that disrupted email access, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work reported elevated errors and latency. Although likely temporary, the incidents raise concerns about service reliability across productivity and AI products. Microsoft Outlook and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work are experiencing user outages
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also focused on the power, water and electricity demands associated with Microsoft’s expanding data-center footprint. Infrastructure bottlenecks and rising AI-related capital requirements could pressure margins and increase execution risk. Microsoft Stock Slips as Its Magic Word for Data Centers Emerges
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft acknowledged that a Windows 11 update can cause broken mouse cursors and black desktop wallpapers. The issue is unlikely to materially affect financial results, but it adds to near-term product-reliability concerns. Microsoft Admits Windows 11 Update Breaks Mouse Cursors

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Microsoft from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. China Renaissance decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,810 shares of company stock valued at $10,110,874. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

MSFT stock opened at $507.29 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $433.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $413.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. Microsoft Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $349.20 and a fifty-two week high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft Company 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).