QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys 115,762 Shares of Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,181,669 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,762 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 4.5% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $437,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Taylor Securities Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter worth $2,616,000. PMG Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $828,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 12,492 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2,332.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,746,017 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $3,262,509,000 after purchasing an additional 6,468,645 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 272,424 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $131,750,000 after buying an additional 49,371 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report, with several firms still rating the stock Buy/Outperform even after trimming price targets. Microsoft Earnings Preview: Copilot, AI Spending and Margins Are in Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft is being viewed as a top AI vendor, and Citi highlighted it as one of the leading players in the space, reinforcing the company’s AI leadership narrative. Citi Finds Microsoft (MSFT) as One of the Top AI Vendors
• Positive Sentiment: Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with 3M to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation, a sign of continued demand for its cloud and AI ecosystem. 3M and Microsoft announce strategic partnership to advance AI data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Satya Nadella’s push to emphasize Microsoft’s in-house AI models and lower-cost enterprise offerings suggests a more aggressive competitive strategy versus OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Microsoft is reportedly training salespeople to talk down OpenAI and Anthropic

Microsoft Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of MSFT opened at $401.10 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $400.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $411.43. Microsoft Corporation has a 1-year low of $349.20 and a 1-year high of $555.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.13.

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. Equities analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research decreased their price target on Microsoft from $675.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, China Renaissance reduced their price objective on Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $557.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).