Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Increased by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 527,159 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,500 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 5.7% of Fisher Funds Management LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $195,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Evexia Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 35,214 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $13,535,000 after purchasing an additional 6,441 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 1.0% during the first quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 56,606 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $20,954,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its position in Microsoft by 4.0% during the first quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 3,312 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,226,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Baugh & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.3% in the first quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 39,773 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,723,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 38,363 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $14,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Microsoft

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft continues to secure new enterprise AI and cloud partnerships, including expanded collaborations around Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure, which support its long-term AI monetization story.
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s 20-year power agreement tied to its Texas data-center buildout helps de-risk AI infrastructure expansion and supports cloud capacity growth.
• Positive Sentiment: ICON plc selected Microsoft as a preferred technology partner, reinforcing demand for Microsoft’s AI and productivity tools in healthcare and enterprise workflows.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain split: some still view Microsoft as a high-quality AI platform with strong long-term upside, while others say the stock has been oversold and may be approaching a valuation reset.
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft was also named in multiple new or ongoing lawsuits and class-action notices tied to alleged securities issues and copyright claims involving AI training data, adding headline risk but no immediate operating impact yet.
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target on Microsoft and said Wall Street’s gross-margin expectations may be too high as Azure growth and AI capex pressure cloud profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s Xbox price hikes and repeated gaming price increases suggest hardware cost inflation is squeezing a business line that had already been weakening.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern over heavy AI spending, shrinking free cash flow, and lower cloud-margin expectations is weighing on sentiment and helping explain why MSFT is falling.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators said Microsoft Azure may face stricter “gatekeeper” rules under the Digital Markets Act, raising the possibility of more compliance burden and oversight in Europe.
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft’s quantum-computing claims also came under renewed criticism, which adds to skepticism around some of its more speculative AI-related initiatives.

Microsoft Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $352.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $555.45. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $411.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $421.81.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.Microsoft’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSFT shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, April 24th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Microsoft from $595.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore lowered their target price on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.86.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total transaction of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last quarter. 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).