Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Shares Bought by Summit Asset Management LLC

Summit Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 11.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,268 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,012 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for 1.0% of Summit Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Summit Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $7,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.3% in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 306,150,608 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $148,060,557,000 after purchasing an additional 6,388,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 980,439 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter worth about $50,664,631,000. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, President Capital lifted their price objective 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. Forty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $558.87.

Microsoft Price Performance

MSFT opened at $499.86 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $403.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $406.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI growth are the main catalysts. Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for fiscal 2026, while fourth-quarter cloud revenue increased 43%. Microsoft also exceeded quarterly revenue and earnings expectations, supporting optimism that AI demand is translating into recurring cloud and enterprise revenue. Microsoft Azure Fiscal 2026 Sales Exceed $100B
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint in India. The company opened its largest Indian data-center hub in Hyderabad and signed early customers including Adani Group and HDFC Bank. Microsoft has committed approximately $20.5 billion to its Indian operations, positioning Azure for growth in a large and rapidly developing market. Microsoft Opens Its Largest India Data Center Hub
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains constructive. Analysts have raised price targets, including Tigress Financial’s $690 target, citing durable AI and cloud growth. Microsoft’s strong balance sheet, recurring software revenue and approximately $0.91 quarterly dividend also provide support for the long-term investment case. Tigress Raises Microsoft Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI is a significant growth engine but also a concentration risk. Reports estimate that OpenAI may account for roughly 70% of Microsoft’s AI revenue. The relationship boosts near-term demand, but reliance on one partner could increase volatility if economics, technology preferences or customer concentration change. OpenAI May Account for 70 Percent of Microsoft AI Revenue
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and legal notices may temper sentiment. CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares worth about $4.9 million, following EVP Takeshi Numoto’s sale of approximately $2.4 million. Multiple law firms are also promoting a securities class action with an August 11 lead-plaintiff deadline. These items do not establish wrongdoing, but they can add near-term headline pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment is increasing execution and margin risks. Large data-center commitments and infrastructure spending are necessary to support demand, but could pressure free cash flow and margins if capacity is built ahead of revenue or component shortages delay deployments. Microsoft’s valuation also leaves less room for disappointment after its sharp rally.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total transaction of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).