Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Sands Capital Management LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Sands Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,470,769 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 394,869 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 3.6% of Sands Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Sands Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $1,194,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Satovsky Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Satovsky Asset Management LLC now owns 9,685 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $4,684,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Scge Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Scge Management L.P. now owns 852,000 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $412,044,000 after acquiring an additional 241,000 shares during the last quarter. SHUTTLEWORTH & Co boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. SHUTTLEWORTH & Co now owns 7,152 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,459,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 13,901 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,723,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 56,139 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $27,150,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $399.76 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $411.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.09. Microsoft Corporation has a 52 week low of $356.28 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.80, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given 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 presently 21.67%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is getting credit for continued AI momentum, including a new coding model, a quantum-computing milestone with Quantinuum, and new availability of NuPlay in the Microsoft Marketplace, all of which reinforce the company’s long-term platform strength. Article: Microsoft (MSFT) and Quantinuum (QNT) Hit Quantum Milestone, Moving Closer to Commercial Reality
• Positive Sentiment: Satya Nadella’s comments that Xbox must become “sustainable” were interpreted as a sign Microsoft is willing to push for better margins and discipline in its gaming business. Article: Microsoft Stock (MSFT) Jumps as CEO Satya Nadella Says Xbox Needs to Become ‘Sustainable’
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators continue to argue that Microsoft’s valuation reset could make the stock more attractive, especially if AI, cloud, and quantum investments eventually accelerate growth. Article: Microsoft’s Giant’s Valuation Reset Creates a Real Dilemma
• Neutral Sentiment: Bill Ackman’s portfolio shifts and broader market chatter around AI leaders reflect ongoing institutional debate about Microsoft’s role in the AI trade, but do not directly change the business outlook. Article: Microsoft or Alphabet: Billionaire Bill Ackman Goes All In on One AI Stock, Dumps the Other
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft is facing a shareholder lawsuit alleging it failed to disclose slowing Azure growth and the need for heavy AI infrastructure spending, which raises concerns about margins, transparency, and near-term cloud execution. Article: Microsoft sued by shareholders over expenses, cloud business, AI
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have launched securities-fraud investigations and class-action efforts against Microsoft, adding legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article: Securities Fraud Investigation Into Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Announced
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft is weighing shutdowns or spin-out options for parts of Xbox, plus insider-selling headlines, reinforce investor worries that some businesses may need restructuring and tighter cost control. Article: Report: Microsoft weighing up spinning off Xbox

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Dbs Bank decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Arete Research raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. President Capital raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Microsoft from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.20.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).