Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is QRG Capital Management Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,065,907 shares of the software giant’s stock after buying an additional 59,009 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 5.7% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $515,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BLVD Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. BLVD Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,169 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Magnolia Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,509 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. ARK & TLK Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rochester Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 700 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MSFT. Bank of America began coverage on Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price for the company. China Renaissance decreased their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price target on Microsoft from $630.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, 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 report on Monday. Forty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.20.

Microsoft Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $460.52 on Tuesday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12-month low of $356.28 and a 12-month high of $555.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $433.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 21.67%.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia unveiled its RTX Spark / N1X AI PC chip in partnership with Microsoft, and multiple reports say this validates Microsoft’s push into “agentic” Windows PCs and could open a new growth avenue in AI-enabled devices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s Build 2026 conference begins June 2, and investors are positioning for product and AI announcements that could showcase new Copilot, cloud, and developer tools. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary has turned more constructive, with one new call highlighting Microsoft’s upside potential as AI demand and enterprise adoption continue to support revenue growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles focused on Microsoft’s broader AI strategy, including new coding-model competition with Google and OpenAI and a redesigned Microsoft 365 Copilot interface, which signals continued investment but no immediate earnings impact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary noted Microsoft is benefiting from a bullish technical setup, with shares moving above the 200-day moving average and sentiment improving after a weak start to the year. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One report raised concerns about internal employee sentiment and increased performance pressure at Microsoft, which is not an immediate stock driver but could point to execution strain if it persists. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total value of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This represents a 8.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).