Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is Rice Partnership LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Rice Partnership LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,954 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,928 shares during the period. Microsoft comprises approximately 3.6% of Rice Partnership LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $26,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 537,630 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $199,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 8.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,921,677 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,562,197,000 after purchasing an additional 537,634 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Securities Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,616,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management grew its stake in Microsoft by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $6,041,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Microsoft by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $131,750,000 after buying an additional 49,371 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

Microsoft Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $499.86 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $403.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $406.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G 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 EPS 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 net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MSFT. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Dbs Bank lowered their price target on Microsoft from $678.00 to $573.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $586.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $558.87.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total value of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. The trade was a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 38,572 shares of company stock valued at $17,775,330 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).