1,401,812 Shares in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,401,812 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $516,666,000. Microsoft accounts for 1.5% of Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSFT. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth $27,338,370,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $18,306,443,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at about $6,928,664,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $5,653,812,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,000,706,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of MSFT stock opened at $521.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $507.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $445.62. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

More Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s AI diagnostic system reportedly diagnosed complex medical cases more than twice as often as generalist physicians in a simulation published in Science. The result supports the company’s ambitions in healthcare and “medical superintelligence.” Microsoft AI medical diagnostic study
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted strong underlying cloud momentum: Azure annual revenue has surpassed $100 billion, cloud-services growth reached 43%, and Microsoft’s commercial backlog rose to approximately $678 billion. These trends could support the investment case if the company demonstrates continued acceleration in its upcoming earnings report. Microsoft cloud demand and backlog
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft is reorganizing around AI agents, broader model choice and lower-cost computing. The strategy could expand Copilot and Azure adoption across business workflows. Microsoft AI agent strategy
• Positive Sentiment: A strategic collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim will pursue AI-backed clinical development and digital patient twins, providing another potential application for Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms. Microsoft and Boehringer Ingelheim partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on next week’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Analysts expect double-digit earnings growth, but the market increasingly wants evidence that Azure growth can keep pace with rivals and justify Microsoft’s substantial AI infrastructure investments. Microsoft earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s large AI capital expenditures remain a key valuation risk. While spending may create a long-term competitive moat, investors are concerned that data-center and infrastructure costs could pressure near-term returns, especially amid higher interest rates and market volatility. Microsoft AI spending and investment risk
• Negative Sentiment: Xbox announced pricing for cloud streaming of games users already own, prompting concerns about consumer reaction and pressure on Microsoft’s gaming business. Xbox cloud gaming pricing
• Negative Sentiment: Former CEO Bill Gates warned that AI could bring roughly two decades of disruption, reinforcing investor concerns about an AI investment bubble and the potential for expensive projects to produce uncertain returns. Bill Gates AI disruption comments

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSFT shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Microsoft from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Microsoft from an “overweight” rating to a “negative” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore upgraded shares of Microsoft from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Microsoft from $512.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Forty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $592.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices and digital platforms. Its products and services are used by consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

The company’s principal offerings include the Windows operating system; Microsoft 365 productivity applications such as Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook; Azure cloud computing and infrastructure services; Dynamics business applications; and enterprise security solutions.