Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Vantage Investment Partners LLC

Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 31.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,923 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,285 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up about 3.8% of Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Vantage Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $55,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Microsoft by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 717,942,580 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $347,211,391,000 after acquiring an additional 15,955,898 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,618,400 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $88,056,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,142 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,220,561 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $58,624,690,000 after buying an additional 980,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Microsoft news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This trade represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the company’s 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 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Arete Research upped 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. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp started coverage on Microsoft in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.40.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $381.70 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $398.21 and a 200-day moving average of $408.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article

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).