Thompson Investment Management Inc. Acquires 6,181 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Thompson Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 8.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 77,238 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,181 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises 3.3% of Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $28,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 410.4% in the 3rd quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 2,374 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $501.02 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $436.21 and its 200 day moving average is $413.78. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The business had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.59 earnings per share 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 issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Microsoft from $502.00 to $522.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Microsoft from $730.00 to $870.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $540.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $562.49.

Trending Headlines about Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $600 from $500 and maintained a Buy rating. The bank cited accelerating cloud growth, improving AI efficiency and better visibility into returns on investment. Its thesis includes approximately 43% Azure growth and more than 30 million paid Copilot seats, implying substantial upside. Microsoft’s AI strategy accelerates cloud growth and efficiency: analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft expanded its HUMAIN partnership in the Middle East and Africa. The companies plan to combine HUMAIN ONE with Microsoft 365 Copilot and IQ capabilities for as many as one million enterprise users, while also bringing Arabic-language AI models to Microsoft’s ecosystem. The deal supports Microsoft’s international AI distribution and enterprise monetization strategy. Microsoft extends HUMAIN tie up
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial media continue to view Microsoft as a leading hyperscaler, citing Azure demand, Copilot adoption, strong cash generation and a valuation that remains reasonable relative to its growth prospects. Technical coverage also places MSFT in or near a potential buy zone after its recent rally. Why Microsoft’s stock could rally another 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft customers can now deploy Laurel through the Microsoft Marketplace, adding another application to the company’s enterprise distribution ecosystem, though the immediate financial effect was not disclosed. Laurel Now Available in the Microsoft Marketplace
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft 365 and Outlook outages persisted into a second day. Although service appeared to be improving, prolonged disruptions could frustrate enterprise customers and raise questions about reliability. Microsoft 365 outage drags on
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on Microsoft’s approximately $116 billion in fiscal 2026 property and equipment spending. Continued AI infrastructure investment may support long-term growth but could pressure depreciation, margins and returns if demand fails to keep pace. Rising interest rates and Windows 11 update problems add further near-term risk.

Insider Activity

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,810 shares of company stock valued at $10,110,874. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).