Microsoft Corporation $MSFT Stake Increased by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 1,629.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,155 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $4,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,664,631,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after acquiring an additional 60,009,531 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the first quarter worth $18,733,827,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 500.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 59,543,261 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $30,840,432,000 after acquiring an additional 49,618,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 49,640.3% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,967,038 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $14,905,904,000 after acquiring an additional 29,906,791 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSFT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $502.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Microsoft from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. New Street Research reduced their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC lowered their price target on Microsoft from $593.00 to $571.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday. Forty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.98.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is getting credit for shifting more AI workloads to its own in-house models, which could lower costs and improve margins in products like Excel and Outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain bullish, arguing Microsoft’s Azure growth and AI infrastructure spending support the long-term thesis and could leave the shares undervalued after recent weakness. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: DA Davidson reiterated a Buy rating and a $550 price target, signaling Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite near-term turbulence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Microsoft’s AI business remains constructive, with reports highlighting a large-scale AI revenue base and continued investor interest in the stock as an AI leader. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft announced about 4,800 layoffs, including roughly 3,200 roles tied to Xbox, as part of a broader reset of the gaming business and a cost-cutting restructuring. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say the Xbox division is underperforming, with weak margins and subscription results raising concerns that management is having to shrink a core consumer business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Microsoft also faces fresh securities-fraud class-action pressure tied to Copilot and Azure disclosures, adding legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title

Microsoft Stock Performance

MSFT opened at $388.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $404.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $416.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $349.20 and a 12-month high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

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).